Animal I've Become
by Brisingrblade09
Summary: Harry Potter has a dream of his Godfather, Sirius Black falling through the veil at the Department of Mysteries. To prevent this, Harry makes the deal. Now infused with the powers of the Rider, Has Harry finally found the key to defeating Voldemort?
1. The Deal

Animal I've Become

Harry Potter/Ghost Rider Crossover

Rating : M

Genre: Supernatural/Romance

Summary: Harry Potter has a dream of his Godfather, Sirius Black falling through the veil at the Department of Mysteries. To prevent this, Harry makes the deal. Now infused with the powers of the Rider, Has Harry finally found the key to defeating Voldemort?

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Ghost Rider, they belong to JK Rowling and Marvel Comics

Chapter 1

The Deal

Harry Potter's 5th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was supposed to be life changing. Fifth year students at the pregious school of magic knew that from then there out, the life they desired after school depended greatly on how they did on the O.W.L.S. which were the end of the year exams for all fifth year students. The O.W.L.S. not only covered what they learned this year, but as well as the last four years of their magical education. Yes Harry Potter's fifth year at Hogwarts should have seen him focusing not only on his career after school, but his remaining two years as well. Suffice to say, this was sadly not the case. Instead, his year was spent secretly teaching Defense Against The Dark Arts to a group consisting of students first year and above. The reason for this was simple. The Ministry of Magic appointed teacher for Defense Against The Dark Arts, Dolores Jane Umbridge refused to teach them defense magic of any kind. This of course was bad considering Harry and his friends were in their O.W.L. year and would need to perform certain defense spells during the practical portion of his exam.

So all in all Harry Potter's fifth year at Hogwarts didn't go as planned. Then again he never did truly have a "normal" year at the school of magic.

In his first year, he and his friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger ended up saving the one and only famous philosopher's stone from none other then Lord Voldemort. Voldemort had been one of the darkest wizards the world had ever seen. When Harry was just one years old; Voldemort attacked his home and killed his father and mother. The Dark wizard then turned his wand on Harry and cast the same spell that killed the young one's parents. Instead of killing the infant, the spell backfired on Voldemort and destroyed his body. Powerless and bodiless, the dark lord fled, only to return eleven years later hoping to use the philosopher's stone to create a new body.

Harry's second year was better but only just. During his second year, the infamous Chamber of Secrets had been opened and Harry found himself the prime suspect because he could speak parsletongue. When Hermione had been found petrified, Harry and Ron ended up finding not only the truth but the location of the Chamber. Inside, Harry once again came face to face with Voldemort. This time a sixteen year old version named Tom Marvolo Riddle. Harry ended up defeating Riddle and his Basilisk a large snake who could kill with a simple look in its eyes.

Harry's third year was probably the most normal out of his school years. For once he didn't have to worry about Voldemort showing up. Unfortunately, he was Harry Potter and danger and trouble was keen to follow. During the summer, the mass murderer Sirius Black who was imprisoned for the murder of twelve muggles and one wizard, escaped from the wizard prison Azkaban. When he was imprisoned many witches and wizards believed that he was in Voldemort's inner circle and would be going to Hogwarts to get Harry. This was only part truth as Harry and his friends would find out. After doing their best to try and comfort Hagrid the school's gamekeeper and Class of Magical Creatures teacher over the execution of Buckbeak the Hippogriff, a creature that was half eagle and half horse. As they made their way back to the castle, a giant black dog attacked and dragged Ron and his pet rat Scabbers under the Whomping Willow, down a secret passageway and into the Shrieking Shack. That night, Harry found out the truth behind his parent's death. Instead of Sirius betraying Lily and James Potter, as the world had believed, in reality it was Peter Pettigrew another friend of the couple. Harry also learned that Sirius was his godfather and after turning in Pettigrew, he would be escaping from the Dursleys. Sadly this was not the case as Pettigrew had escaped and Sirius had to back on the run.

This however was a cakewalk compared to what happened in Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts. During his fourth year, the famous Tri-Wizard tournament was reinstated and took place at Hogwarts. During the year, delegates from the other two magical schools in Europe, Beaxbautons, and Durmstrang arrived at Hogwarts with students who were hoping to be chosen as their school's champion. Viktor Krum became Durmstrang's champion while Fleur Delacour was chosen to be Beaxbauton's. Hogwart's champion was chosen to be Cedric Diggory. Harry was surprised as well as everyone else when his own name was called out after Cedric. He of course didn't enter as he didn't want to. However the rest of the school and the visitors, along with Ron for a short time, though he did. After facing Dragons, Merpeople, and a giant maze filled with all sorts of creatures and enchantments, Harry and Cedric became the last champions standing. When they grabbed the Tri-Wizard cup, they were instantly transported to a muggle graveyard where Cedric was killed and Voldemort was reborn anew. After enduring a duel with the newly reborn Voldemort, Harry summoned the Tri-Wizard cup to himself and grabbed Cedric's body, teleporting back to Hogwarts.

The fall out was just as bad as watching a friend die. Harry found out not only the truth as to why he was entered in the tournament, but who had actually entered his name. A Death Eater named Barty Crouch Jr, believed to have died in Azkaban and who had spent the last year impersonating Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody.

So it was really an understatement that Harry Potter never had a regular, normal, trouble-free year at Hogwarts.

This was bad. No not bad, this was extremely bad and dangerous. After Cho Chang had betrayed them, Harry was brought before the headmaster in his office. Besides him and Cho being in the room, Cornelius Fudge, minister of Magic, Dolores Umbridge, Percy Weasley, as well as Aurors Dawlish, and Shacklebolt.

"You see Minister; this is a list of those students who were meeting with Potter." Umbridge said in her sickly sweet voice.

As Fudge went over the list, his eyes widened when he saw the name Dumbledore's Army written across the piece of parchment.

"What is the meaning of this Dumbledore?" Fudge asked. He was doing his best not to lose his temper. The reason why he appointed Dolores as Defense Against the Arts teacher, was so the students couldn't learn magic. He had a very strong feeling that Dumbledore and Potter were just making up the return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named so that Dumbledore could take over the Ministry. This would not happen, not on his watch.

"Ah Cornelius, you've finally caught me." Dumbledore said. His eyes twinkling as he observed the Minister of Magic and the others.

"What on are you saying Dumbledore?" Fudge says looking at the aged headmaster.

"At the beginning of the school year, I instructed Harry here to form a group of students and teach them defense, and to train them up, so that when it was done, they could join my army" Dumbledore says, his fingers pressed together.

"A..Army? So you are planning on taking over the ministry! I knew all this talk of You-Know-Who returning was garbage" Fudge exclaimed.

The minister turned to the two aurors and handed them the list to use as evidence against Dumbledore. "Dawlish, Shacklebolt you will accompany Dumbledore to Azkaban where he will remain until we begin his trial for treason" Fudge says.

"Hmm I thought we'd hit this little snag, you all are of course under the impression that I will, hmm what's the phrase, Come quietly?" Dumbledore said standing up.

Fudge, Umbridge, and the two aurors slowly approached the desk. In a flash of fire, Fawkes; Dumbledore's pet phoenix flew over and transported himself and Dumbledore out of the castle.

"Well you may not like him Minister but you've got to admit, Dumbledore has class" Shacklebolt says.

The months that followed could only be described as the worst that happened to Hogwarts since the Chamber of Secrets was opened in Harry's second year. Umbridge was made Headmistress and made the members of Dumbledore's Army write lines using the same blood quill that she used on Harry in his detentions with her.

During Harry's fifth year at Hogwart's he has been having the same dreams since the term began in September. He was moving along a dark corridor towards an unmarked door. Whenever he got close to the door, he would wake up. However in the most recent dream, Harry found himself actually moving past the door. The room he found himself in was lit with an eerie blue light and there were what looked like thousands of crystal balls on hundreds of shelves.

Soon enough the end of term was approaching and that meant for the fifth years, it was time for them to take their O.W.L.S. After getting their schedules, Harry spent many hours in the library with Hermione and Ron studying. Harry was determined to do as best he could on his O.W.L.S. especially Potions since he learned that he needed to take potions to become an Auror which was the career he was debating on.

Finally, after spending a week of studying really hard and going over the last four years of notes and tests, the O.W.L.S. Exams were here. During the morning, fifth years had the written portion of the exams, before breaking for lunch. After lunch they would have the practical portion of the exams. When Friday came around all Harry had was History of Magic which he was certain he would fail, for he had a very bad nightmare during the night.

_*~Harry's Nightmare*~_

_Harry looked around at his friends. They all nodded at him as they gripped their wands and followed him into the room of prophecy that was located in The Department of Mysteries. They began to search up and down the aisles for Sirius Black, Harry's godfather who appeared in a vision to Harry of being tortured by Voldemort. As the group passed one of the shelves, Neville Longbottom stopped and gestured Harry forward._

"_Harry this one has your name on it" Neville said as he gestured to the name plate underneath the small crystal ball. "Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter?". Biting his bottom lip, Harry reached up and removed the small crystal ball from its place. It felt cool to the touch as he grasped it tightly in his hand._

"_Very good Potter now be a good little boy and give me that prophecy" a voice called from the shadows. Turning around, Harry and his friends came face to face with Lucius Malfoy. Behind the death eater stood a woman framed by dark curly hair, her cheeks shallow. Her eyes however held a spark of insanity._

"_Why should I give it to you Malfoy? And why did Voldemort need me to get this?" Harry asked._

"_You dare say his name? HOW DARE YOU, YOU FILTHY HALF-BLOOD!" screamed the woman behind Malfoy Sr. said._

"_Now, Now Bellatrix we don't want this to get ugly" Lucius says before turning his attention back to Harry and his friends._

"_To first answer your question, Potter, Prophecies can only be retrieved by who those that they are made for. Besides have you ever wondered what the connection was between you and the Dark Lord? All the answers are there Potter in your hand" Lucius says._

"_I've waited fourteen years" Harry said softly clutching the prophecy tightly in his hand._

"_I know" Lucius said extending his hand out for the prophecy._

"_I guess I can wait a little bit longer, NOW!" Harry yelled._

_Six stunning spells went flying towards Lucius and Bellatrix. Now that they were distracted, Harry and his friends ran towards the exit. Along the way, they fired off more spells at any of the Death Eaters that tried to stop them. Finally reaching the exit, Harry wrenched open the door open and stood aside so that his friends could get out. It came down to him and Ginny who shot a Reducto curse down the room at the Death Eaters. The Reducto curse was so powerful that the floor of the hall of prophecies disintegrated. Harry and Ginny just had enough time to get out._

_The room they were now standing in was bare. All that was inside was a large stone archway. Biting his bottom lip, Harry slowly approached the archway, hearing whispering voices. Glancing behind him, Harry saw the Death Eaters heading towards them. They grabbed Harry's friends and held them at wand point as Lucius slowly walked up to Harry._

"_Did you honestly think that children could beat us?" Lucius asks._

_Before Harry could answer, there was a flash of light and Sirius Black appeared who punched Lucius squarely in the jaw, sending the older man scrambling away from Harry. The following battle was something neither Harry nor his friends had ever seen before. With flashes of light, other members of the Order arrived and helped Harry's friends to get out of the room as Harry and Sirius dueled Lucius and another Death Eater. Sirius had just taken care of Lucius when Bellatrix appeared._

"_AVADA KEDAVRA" Bellatrix screamed. A jet of green light hitting Sirius squarely in the chest, sending him flying backwards through the stone archway._

_~* End Nightmare *~_

Harry was unsure if it was just a nightmare or a sign of things to come, whatever it was, he didn't like it. He was debating going to Dumbledore and telling him about it. As Harry walked into the great hall to take his History of Magic O.W.L. He decided to go to the headmaster if he had the dream again.

An hour later, the exam was over and the fifth year students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were finally free of the O.W.L.S. They wouldn't receive their marks until later in the summer, but for now they could put it out of their mind. After the exam finished, Ron left and went up to his bed to take a nap, while Hermione went up to the library to check over her answers. This left Harry alone which he welcomed. Harry walked out of the entrance hall and headed down to the black lake. The sky was bright blue with not a cloud in sight. The sun was shining as Harry sat down, his back against the big oak tree that was by the lake.

Harry leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He was glad that term was almost over and he was glad that he only had to spend a few weeks at his relatives before going to the Grimmauld Place. Harry had only closed his eyes for a few minutes when he heard a voice beside him.

"Worried about something Mr. Potter?" the voice said.

Harry snapped open his eyes and looked up to find an old man leaning heavily on a cane. The old man had graying hair and dark blue eyes. He was tall and slim and wearing a jet-black suit. The top of the cane was decorated with a silver skull.

Harry bit his bottom lip and looked around. It appeared that none of the other students could see this old man. Harry returned his gaze to that of the man and asked "Who are you?".

"Just a friend Mr. Potter, You look to be troubled?" the man says.

"Well I'm just concerned about my godfather, I've been having dreams in which he falls through this stone archway and dies." Harry says.

"I'm truly sorry to hear that Harry. I really am" the man said as he sat down beside Harry.

"I'm worried because he's the only family I've got left and I don't want him to get hurt or die" Harry says softly.

"What if I told you that I could save your godfather and make sure he didn't die?" The old man said facing the young wizard.

"How?" Harry asked looking at the old man.

"I have a deal for you Mr. Potter. All you have to do is sign this contract and I'll make sure your godfather will be safe" the man says pulling out a roll of parchment from his pocket.

"What's the contract for?" Harry asks looking at the man.

"Your soul Harry Potter, sign this contract and give me your soul. In return I will make it so that your dream doesn't become a reality" the old man says.

"May I see the contract?" Harry asked biting his bottom lip.

"Of course" The old man says handing the rolled up piece of parchment to Harry.

There was silence as Harry unfurled the contract and began to read it. He was halfway through the first part when he realized, the contract wasn't written in English. Instead it was written in Latin. Inside his mind a battle was raging between accepting the man's offer, or going straight to Dumbledore. However he was tired of people dying for him. This was his battle after all and no more would his friends die for him.

"Alright I agree" Harry says signing the contract with his quill that was in his bag.

The old man smiled before snapping his fingers. "It is done now Mr. Potter. You're godfather will be spared. I also took the liberty of adding a certain kind of power to your magical core. A power that you will come to find out about later down the road." With another snap of his fingers the old man disappeared leaving Harry wondering if he just made a huge mistake.

**A/N: End of Chapter 1! Please Read and Review! As far as pairing goes, I'm not sure yet. If you guys have any suggestions please let me know either by PM or Review (would prefer review) Also I might have Johnny make an appearance later down the road.**


	2. First Transformation

Animal I've Become

Chapter 2

First Transformation

Two days had passed since Harry sold his soul to the old man in order to keep Sirius safe. The strangest thing was that his scar was no longer hurting. He was also able to have a good night's sleep since the end of the previous year. Harry of course was not complaining. It was nice being able to sleep peacefully without worrying if he was going to see into Voldemort's mind or feel his emotions.

Even though the end of the year exams were over, Harry and his friends still had a week before they would take the train back to London. Harry knew Hermione would want to spend as much time as she could in the library, While Ron would most likely spend the last week in the dormitory sleeping. Sighing to himself, Harry got out of his bed and quickly dressed before heading to the owlery for a visit with Hedwig. As he did, he passed Umbridge's office and he could hear her talking with someone. It sounded like Filch, but Harry wasn't positive, nor did he care. Pushing the toad bitch out of his mind, Harry continued on his path to the owlery.

Once in the owlery, Harry immediately glanced up and automatically saw his snowy owl Hedwig. Calling her name, Hedwig peeked open an amber eye and gave a small hoot of annoyance, having been woken up before. With a flutter of wings, the snowy owl flew down and landed on Harry's outstretched arm.

"Hey girl" Harry muttered as he stroked Hedwig's feathers.

Hedwig nipped Harry's earlobe in appreciation as he stroked her feathers. After spending a few hours with Hedwig, Harry returned to the castle, intent on spending the last week at Hogwarts in peace, without worrying about anything.

Knowing that Ron was probably still out like a light, Harry headed up to the library to see how Hermione was doing. As he walked past Umbridge's office, Harry saw out of the corner of his eye, the door opening and Colin and Denis Creevey walking out, both rubbing their hands. Glancing back, Harry slowed down so Colin and Denis could catch up with him.

"Hey guys what did Umbridge give you detention for this time?" Harry asked when the two Creevey brothers caught up with their fellow Gryffindor. As Harry was preoccupied with glancing at the marauder's map, he missed the look of dread pass between the two brothers.

"Um nothing really just forgot to turn in our homework" Colin says when Harry put the map away and turned to face him and his younger brother.

Harry was about to let the subject drop when he noticed that the brothers kept on rubbing their right hands as if to rub something off of them.

"Colin, Denis what did she do?" Harry asked. His voice stern yet gentle. He might have been annoyed sometimes by the Creevey brothers' antics about getting him to sign shit but he still cared for them.

Casting a quick glance around the corridor, Colin and Denis lifted their hands up and by the light of the nearest lit blazer, Harry saw the words "I will not marry a pure-blood and taint the pure magical line".

Harry felt his head start to pound as he looked down at the words etched on the Creevey's hands. His own hands were shaking and he could feel a cold sweat start to coat his forehead.

"Harry? are you alright? Do you need to go see Madam Promfrey?" Colin asked. Looking at his friend and fellow Gryffindor with concern.

"Y..Yeah I'm fine guys, I..I'm just going to go to the bathroom and splash some water on my face" Harry muttered before taking off to the nearest boy's restroom.

Throwing himself into the bathroom, Harry stumbled up to one of the sinks and began to splash cold water on his face. For some reason the water wasn't working. Instead of cooling him down, Harry felt his body start to get hotter. At first it didn't particularly bother him, Harry just found it annoying. However, the heat started to burn and Harry started clawing at his robes trying to get them off. Instead, his robes just tightened around him preventing Harry from getting them off. As Harry's head pounded and throbbed, all he could see was what Umbridge had forced the Creevey brothers to carve into their hands. A flickering of light caught Harry's attention. Looking down Harry couldn't help but gasp as he saw his hands. Both of his hands no longer had skin on them, instead all Harry saw were the bones of his hands. Harry was also shocked to see that there were also golden flames flickering against the bones.

What struck Harry as odd, was that he could feel the flames but it didn't feel super hot nor did it hurt like he imagined it would feel if he ever were set on fire. Closing his eyes, Harry felt his entire body become swathed in the golden flames. Opening his eyes, Harry stepped back with a start. There, staring back at him in the mirror was someone, something he had never seen before in his life. Harry saw himself but it wasn't really him. For one thing his hair was all burned off as well as his face leaving just his skull which was surrounded by the golden flames. The only indication that it was him standing there, was that there was a small lightning bolt shape on his forehead, right where his scar was.

Harry was about to set out and head to the library, to find Hermione and hope that she was able to help him. Instead, his mind was drawn to what happened with the Creevey brothers. Ever since arriving at Hogwarts, Umbridge had become a blight on the whole school. This never did set right with Harry as Hogwarts was his real home.

Making up his mind, Harry exited the bathroom and made his way to Umbridge's office.

...

Umbridge sat in her overly pink colored office sipping her tea. She was wearing her usual pink cardigan as she graded homework. Umbridge felt at peace in her office as she graded her students work. However this peace wouldn't last for she was just about to move onto the next essay to grade when her office door slammed opened and Harry slowly walked in, surrounded by golden flames with his skull literally on fire with the golden flames. To say that Umbridge was scared out of her mind was an understatement. Umbridge went to grab her wand but when Harry waved his hand, her wand was lit ablaze and disintegrated before her eyes.

"Please don't hurt me I didn't do anything wrong!" Umbridge half squeaked half croaked, her pudgy face trembling as her eyes were wide in fear.

Harry just growled as he walked over and grabbed Umbridge by her throat and slamming her up against the back wall of her office.

"You are Guilty Dolores" Harry growled in a voice that clearly wasn't his own.

"I...I haven't done anything! I'm just a teacher! I teach Defense Against The Dark Arts and all the students love me!" Umbridge exclaimed as she fought against Harry's grip.

"Now now Professor you know you shouldn't tell lies" Harry growled his grip tightening around Umbridge's throat.

Umbridge's eyes widen as she coughed out "Potter? Le..Let go of me this instant!"

"Look into my eyes Umbridge. Your soul is stained with the blood of the innocents. Feel their pain!" Harry growled.

Automatically, Umbridge began to scream in terror as in her mind she saw all the evil and nasty things that she had done while taking up the post at Hogwarts. She saw herself forcing Harry to use the blood quill in her detentions. Then her using veritaserum on the student body in an effort to find out what Harry was doing. The pain was incredible as Umbridge was forced to relive all the things she had done.

When it was finally over, Umbridge sank to the floor of her office comatose. Her eyes a charcoal black. She would never wake up. Harry just used his most powerful weapon since transforming into the Rider for the first time. He used the penance stare.

Taking a step back, Harry placed his hands on Umbridge's desk burning it slightly as the golden flames slowly extinguished themselves and as they did, Harry's skin and hair reappeared unmarked as if nothing had happened. Catching his breath, Harry opened his eyes and he gasped as he saw the wreck that was Umbridge's office. Seeing that Umbridge was slumped to the floor, Harry knelt down and gently shook her shoulder.

"Professor Umbridge? Are you alright?" Harry asked.

With no answer, Harry got up and took off for the hospital wing, unaware that he had been the one who had done the damage and taken out Umbridge.

Within the hour of Harry getting to the hospital wing and telling Madam Promfrey what he found, Dumbledore was reinstated as Headmaster of Hogwarts and Defense Against The Dark Arts had been canceled the rest of the week.

...

The rest of the week went by with students speculating what sort of dark creature or which student if any had attacked Umbridge. It was common knowledge that every student hated her, save for the students of Slytherin house.

Finally the school year ended and it was time to go home for the summer holidays. Umbridge had been taken to St. Mungos where she would stay for the rest of her life. Harry was going to do his best to forget about what happened, and to also try to find out more information about the stranger and the power that was added to his magical core. Unbeknownst to Harry however, the answer to his questions were already on their way to London; in the form of Johnny Blaze.

**A/N: End of Chapter 2! Please Read and Review! Next chapter will be the arrival of Johnny Blaze who will become a sort of mentor to Harry and help him focus and master his Rider powers. Also I'm still debating on who Harry will end up with. Thanks for reading.**


	3. Answers

Animal I've Become

Chapter 3

Answers

**A/N: The character of Desmond White belongs to me. **

Ever since finding out what the consequences were after making the deal with the devil to save his father, Johnny Blaze had been on the run. He was hoping that during his travels he would be able to either find a way to control the spirit of vengeance that dwelled within him; or find the answer to rid him of the curse. So far however, luck wasn't on Johnny's side. It wasn't as if you could flip a switch and get rid of all the evil and bad in the world. If that had been the case, Johnny wouldn't have gone on the run and ended up staying in the backwater motels. Whenever Johnny was around evil, especially at night, the Rider would take over and as the Rider, Johnny would punish whoever he found. It didn't matter to the Rider how little or insignificant the crime was.

At the present moment, Johnny was in an old eastern European village. So far he'd been able to go a couple weeks without transforming into the Rider. That was only thanks to a tremendous amount of willpower. After making sure his bike was secure, Johnny headed over to the only pub in the village and walked inside, intent on having a couple strong drinks before retiring to his room at the Inn.

Sitting up at the bar, Johnny ordered a couple shots of whiskey and began to drown his feelings of failure, and his fear about being stuck with the curse of the ghost rider forever. It was only after the fifth shot of whiskey that he heard frantic, quick whispering from a pair of people down at the end of the bar.

"Yes that's right. I heard the exact same thing about what happened to her. Do you think it's true though?" one of the voices whispered.

"I'm not sure, but it cant be a coincidence though can it? I mean you heard the gossip right? Umbridge gets attacked by some student or dark creature that makes her eyes go charcoal black and she goes into a coma?" the other voice said.

Hearing this, Johnny's grip on his shotglass tightened before breaking in his grasp. A few people glanced up but said nothing as Johnny handed some money to the bartender to pay for the broken shotglass.

_'So there's another rider in this part of the country? That's interesting, as I was positive that I was the only Rider in the area. Guess I was wrong. Whoever this Umbridge woman is, she suffered from the Rider's penance stare, which leads me to believe she must have done something really bad to incur the wrath of a rider.' _Johnny thought to himself as he left the bar, wanting to go to his bedroom to think.

Johnny knew that he'd have to track this new rider and it was up to him to teach them about their new powers and how to focus and master them. With a heavy sigh, Johnny went to bed fully clothed, aware that when morning came he'd be gone.

...

Harry Potter couldn't believe it. He had to stop himself from jumping up and down in joy in the compartment that he shared with Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna. Before the Hogwarts express had left the station to begin its journey back to London, Hermione had recieved her copy of the Daily Prophet and it was only after Hermione had unfolded the paper did they see the front page headline.

**Sirius Black Innocent? Peter Pettigrew actually alive?**

_In the early morning, a startling revelation was found down in the department of mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. At half past four in the morning, a wizard was found trying to force his way through into the hall of prophecies. _

_The wizard in question actually had a heavily modified glamor charm, disguising his real features. The wizard was then taken by members of the Department of Law Enforcement for both questioning and removal of the glamor charm. _

_To say that those accounted for to see the charm removed would be shocked is an understatement. When the glamor charm was finally stripped away, the witches and wizards at the scene were shocked to see none other then Peter Pettigrew. Peter Pettigrew was believed my many to have been killed along with several muggles by Azkaban escapee Sirius Black. _

_Once the initial shock wore off, lead investigator Desmond White, went and retrieved a vial of Veritaserum. After administering three drops, the wizard who appeared to be Pettigrew was asked a series of questions. Among these were, Are you Peter Pettigrew? How are you alive?_

_Peter answered yes that he was in fact Peter Pettigrew before explaining that he'd actually been the Potter's secret-keeper and not Sirius Black. He went on to also explain that he had betrayed James and Lily Potter to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, before explaining how he had framed Sirius for his supposed "Murder" and the murder of twelve innocent muggles. Upon further questioning, Pettigrew told those present about his master's plan to be reborn and how last year's Tri-Wizard Tournament would be the perfect cover. _

_In light of this new evidence, Cornelius Fudge; Minister for Magic cancelled the manhunt for Sirius Black and offered him the ministry's most deepest apologies. Fudge went on to publicly apologize to both Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter for his treatment and behavior towards them during the summer and the now ending school year. _

When Harry first saw the article he was a little skeptical. Sure he read it over several times but he wasn't a hundred percent positive. Harry's doubts were put to rest soon enough. For within a couple hours, a letter addressed to Harry arrived from a small postal owl. The owl was somewhat similar to Ron's small owl Pigwidgeon.

Slitting open the letter, Harry pulled it open and quickly read it.

_Dear Harry_

_I imagine that you've most likely seen today's edition of the Prophet. If you haven't I apologize and I will not say anymore now. Let this be a surprise. If you have then allow me to put your mind at ease. Yes it is true about what is written in the article. I was as surprised as I'm sure you are. It looks like Voldemort failed when he chose to use Peter in order to try and get the prophecy. This is all I can say for now. Dumbledore will explain it all to you later tonight at Headquarters. Thank god I can actually leave the house now, and thank god its nice and clean thanks to Molly's help. _

_Be seeing you soon. _

_Sirius _

Harry felt himself smile before he looked at his friends and he nodded his head. "It's true, he's finally free."

As the Hogwarts's express continued it's journey to London, Harry found himself anxious and more excited the closer he got to King's Cross. Finally at half past one, the scarlet train pulled into platform 9 and 3/4 and the disembarking began.

Once he had his trunk and Hedwig's cage, Harry got off the train and onto the platform where he waited for his friends to join him. While waiting, his emerald eyes were scanning the crowd looking for Sirius. Within a few minutes of searching, Harry spotted his godfather making his way through the crowded platform, Harry seeing that he was accompanied by Lupin. Grinning to himself and not being able to wait for his friends, Harry launched himself at his godfather, embracing the older man in a tight hug.

"Mmm hey pup" Sirius said ruffling Harry's hair when Harry pulled away from him.

"I can't believe its finally over and that you're free after so long" Harry says before hugging Lupin as well.

"I know I've dreamed of this day since I first escaped Azkaban" Sirius said.

"So any luck on getting your mother's portrait off the wall, I mean during the summer she was pretty loud and would go off if there was a loud noise" Harry asked as his friends caught up with him.

"Actually yes we were able to, thank god although it was no small feat believe me".

"How'd you do it?" Hermione asked, remembering how much of a pain it was to have to be quiet when moving through the main hallway when the portrait of Sirius's mother was up.

As the group made their way through the crowded platform, Sirius explained that the portrait had been set up with a permanent sticking charm, and that they ended up blasting the wall apart to get rid of the portrait before rebuilding the wall. Once at the barrier, Harry said his goodbyes to his friends before joining Sirius and Lupin at the fireplace that would take them back to Grimmauld Place.

Once Harry, Sirius, and Lupin arrived at Grimmauld Place, Lupin went down to the kitchen to begin making a late lunch while Sirius led Harry up to his bedroom to help him unpack.

"So has it sunk in yet?" Sirius asked as Harry began to unpack his trunk and put his things away.

"Has what sunk in yet?" Harry asked as he hung up his school robes in the wardrobe before putting his school books on the bookshelf next to the desk.

"That you're finally home and that you're not going back to those monsters" Sirius said.

"Sirius that sunk in when I saw the article in the prophet, and I'm extremely happy to be away from them after so many years" Harry says.

Half an hour later, Remus called Sirius and Harry down to the kitchen for lunch. Harry having finished unpacking twenty minutes before Remus called spent the remaining ten minutes talking with Sirius.

"So when is Dumbledore coming over to explain this prophecy thing to me?" Harry asked taking a sip from his goblet of pumpkin juice.

"He should be arriving around dinner time, so after lunch you can go take a nap or start on your homework if you'd like" Sirius says.

"I'll most likely take a nap, and get started on the homework tomorrow. Now that I'm not living with the Dursleys, I don't have to worry about sneaking my books and homework out from the cupboard under the stairs. That and I really want to do better this year, pay more attention to my studies".

"That's very good Harry, I know in the past you've gotten good grades in Defense, Charms, Herbology and Transfiguration. However your grades in Potions has been lackluster and if you're still considering on becoming an auror after Hogwarts, you need to pick up the Potions grade." Sirius says.

"I know Sirius, hopefully within a few weeks, I'll be able to see how I did on my O.W.L.S." Harry says as he stood up and took his plate over to the sink and rinsing it off before placing it in the sink.

Harry bid Sirius and Remus good-bye before leaving the kitchen and heading up to his bedroom. Once in his room, Harry got undressed save for his boxers and t-shirt before he went over to his bedroom window and opened it so Hedwig could go fly and hunt whenever she pleased. After this, Harry crawled into his bed where he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. A couple hours later, Harry awoke to find a beautiful jet black owl with silver markings on its wings sitting on his desk. Grabbing his jeans and slipping them on, Harry walked over and removed the letter that was clamped in the owls beak.

Seeing his name written in a writing style he didn't recognize, made Harry cautious. After feeding the black owl that had delivered it some owl treats, Harry sat at the desk and slowly slit open the envelope, and pulling the letter out.

_Dear Harry, _

_I realize that this is most likely the worst time to write to you. I saw the article in the morning prophet on the train ride home and I'm quite happy that your godfather is finally free. My father works on the Wizengamot and was one of the few people who tried to get a trial for your godfather. He took that failure really hard but enough about that, the key thing is that he's finally free. I'm kind of afraid to tell you who I am because when you learn who I am and what house I'm in that you won't write back. But then again I shouldn't let fear rule when and how I do things. First I'm a girl and I'm in Slytherin house. Now before you start tearing up this letter let me explain. _

_My name is Daphne Greengrass and I'm sure you might've seen me a few times in potions class. I know you probably think that all Slytherins are the same and that we all hate everybody else. This is absolutely not true at all. First off, I'm actually a half-blood and I get looked down upon in Slytherin house. Even my best friend Tracey Davis who is pure-blood gets crap just because she's friends with me. You'd be surprised how many Slytherins actually want to get to know you. They're just afraid of Malfoy and his pathetic father. I hope you will write back to me because I'd really like to get to know you. _

_Hoping to hear from you,_

_Daphne_

Harry bit his bottom lip as he reread the letter several times. He was one hundred percent positive that this was a joke, it just had to be. Ever since he had started at Hogwarts, Harry had received nothing but negativity from Slytherin house. Chewing on his bottom lip, Harry decided to play it safe and write a reply. Grabbing a piece of parchment and his eagle feather quill, Harry began his reply.

_Dear Daphne,_

_I hope you forgive me, but I must ask this right away. Is this a joke? Did Malfoy or one of his cronies put you up to this? I'm sorry but I must ask for during the last five years at Hogwarts, I've only received negative things from Slytherin house. No one has said anything nice to me in the last five years so I'm a little in fact this isn't a joke and you are writing to me in the hopes to get to know me, then i formally apologize. _

_But yes I have seen you in potion's class a few times, but in reality I'm to busy trying to do good so Snape won't fail me. Bit redundant really since he always fails me. I hope to change that this upcoming year though. _

_I want to do my absolute best this year. Since the only thing I know as of this letter is your name, How about in our letters we ask each other questions so that we may get to know things about the other? What is your favorite class at school? Your least favorite? As you can most likely guess, my favorite is Defense Against The Dark Arts, and my least favorite is Potions, although History of Magic can definitely give Potions a run for its money. _

_Harry_

With his reply now written, Harry folded the letter up before holding it up to the jet black owl. Automatically, the owl took the letter into its beak before flying out the window. Once the owl was just a speck in the sky, Harry got dressed before walking downstairs. As Harry walked into the lounge, he saw that Sirius, Tonks, and Remus were immersed in heavy conversation.

Looking up from the conversation, Tonks smiled and said "Wotcher Harry, glad to finally be away from those muggles eh?"

"You know I am, so are you going to stay for dinner? Dumbledore's coming over to explain some things to me" Harry says.

"Actually Dumbledore requested that I come for dinner, although I'm not sure why" Tonks says as Harry sat down next to Sirius.

"Hmm I wonder why that would be?" Sirius says.

Before the group could contemplate further, Dumbledore arrived and bid everyone good evening. Turning to Harry, Dumbledore said that he would explain everything after dinner. With that said, the group exited the lounge and headed downstairs to the kitchen. Dinner was delicious, and it consisted of grilled pork chops, boiled potatoes and gravy, mixed veggies and a side salad.

Once dinner was over and the dishes cleaned and put away, Sirius grabbed a bottle of firewhiskey and some glasses before joining the others in the living room. Once everyone had a glass of firewhiskey, Dumbledore began.

"First off I want to start by telling you how sorry I am Harry for leaving you with the Dursleys. Now i want you to understand why I did in the first place. But for now that must wait". Turning to Tonks, Dumbledore smiled before saying "And Tonks, I've asked you to join us here so you could hear it from me first. I'm appointing you as the new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher."

Tonks squealed in delight before thanking Dumbledore, and then leaving so she could start planning for the upcoming year. After Tonks left, Dumbledore reached into his pocket and pulled out a softball sized crystal ball and set it on the table between himself, Harry, Sirius, and Remus.

"Sir what is that?" Harry asked glancing down at the crystal ball.

"That Harry is the prophecy that was recorded by Professor Trelawney. This is the prophecy that made Voldemort decide to go after you when your were an infant" Dumbledore says.

Reaching forward, Harry grabbed the crystal ball before slamming it onto the ground. As he did a silvery blue mist began to rise up, as it did Harry, Sirius, Remus, and Dumbledore heard the voice of Professor Trelawney.

_"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies .._

"So one of us is going to have to kill the other in the end?" Harry asked looking at Dumbledore.

"Yes but I'm afraid it won't be that simple Harry. During the upcoming school year, I will be teaching you not only about Voldemort's past, but also ways on how to defeat him when that time comes."

"Sir you also said that you would explain about why you left me with the Dursleys" Harry said looking at the aged headmaster.

Dumbledore's eyes no longer twinkled as he explained his reasons to the group before him. He explained that a part of him wanted desperately to put Harry up a with nice wizarding family, but he couldn't because he knew that whichever family took Harry in, would most likely bring up what happened to his parents, and that as a baby, Harry shouldn't have been forced to have that be brought up. Dumbledore went on to also explain that since Petunia was Lily's sister then the protection that was created by Lily's sacrifice would also go on to protect the Dursleys since Petunia was Lily's sister.

"I had hoped that they would take you in and treat you as if you were their own. To teach you love and respect but instead they chose to treat you as an outsider, as a stain on their very existence, and I must say Harry that I'm more then surprised at the man you're becoming because of the way you were brought up" Dumbledore says before leaving, wanting to give Harry and Sirius time to process what he said.

"Well at least I know now why that bastard came after me" Harry says looking at his godfather and Remus.

Both Sirius and Remus nodded before Sirius said, "Pup I know Dumbledore said that he'd teach you and I can only guess that it'd be advanced spells and such. I think that during the summer you should perhaps train with some muggle weapons like knives, swords, perhaps even a gun".

When Harry arched an eyebrow at the suggestion, Sirius went on to explain. "Look Voldemort and the Death Eaters will be fighting with their wands only, so they won't expect you or anyone else on the Order's side to be fighting not only with magic but muggle weapons as well. Having them surprised and unsuspecting will put the ball in your court Pup" Sirius said.

"I'll think about it Sirius" Harry replied.

...

Meanwhile at an old run down shack in the middle of nowhere in Germany, Johnny Blaze; now transformed into the Rider, growled in annoyance as the squat, balding man who smelled like stale tobacco and rotten eggs was shooting jets of light at him. Now ever since Johnny first found out about his powers, He came to accept that magic existed, after all he was a man who would transform into a powerful demon whenever he was around evil. Getting annoyed with the squat man, Johnny grabbed him and slammed him up against the wall, fire flashing in his hollowed eye sockets.

"Which student did that woman hate above all else at that school Mundungus?" Johnny/The Rider growled his grip tightening on Mundungus's shirt.

"Harry Potter, she hated the boy and believed he was lying about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named coming back from the dead" Mundungus whimpered, trying his hardest not to look Johnny in the eyes.

"Where is he?" Johnny asked, gaining some control over the Rider.

"London, He's staying with his Godfather for the summer" Mundungus said.

Johnny released his grip on Mundungus before turning on his heel and exiting the shack. Parked a few feet away from the shack was Johnny's prized motorcycle, which at the present moment was the Rider's hell-cycle. Taking a moment, Johnny closed his eyes and within a few minutes, he had changed back to normal. As he became himself again, his motorcycle became itself again. Climbing onto it, Johnny kicked the bike to life before speeding away from the shack. As Johnny began the trip out of Germany and towards England, he knew that the sooner he found Harry and teach him, the better off Harry would be.

**A/N: End of Chapter 3. Please Read and Review!**


	4. Letters and OWLS

Animal I've Become

Chapter 4

Letters and O.W.L.S.

**A/N: I want to apologize for the long update. I wanted to finish one of my other stories that was in progress before I continued on with Animal I've Become. Now that, that story is finished, you can look forward to updates more frequently. If any of you have interest in what that story was, it's called Saving Me and it's a Harry Potter/Resident Evil Crossover featuring Hermione and Wesker as the pairing.**

Daphne Greengrass always had a little crush on Harry Potter. It wasn't because he was The Boy-Who-Lived and that danger and trouble seemed to follow him on a daily basis. There was just something about his eyes that were just so damn inviting. She could seriously loose herself in those emerald orbs of his.

However, ever since from returning home from King's Cross, Daphne found herself to be in a nervous wreck. _'What if he doesn't write back? What if he rips up the letter and refuses to write back because I'm in Slytherin'_, these and many other negative thoughts flowed through her mind as she anxiously waited for Connor, her owl to return to her.

It was a bit ironic really. At school she was known to her housemates and the rest of the student populace as the Ice Queen, meaning that she didn't give any male that approached her, or even showed the slightest interest in her the time of day. It also didn't help the matter when her house was Slytherin and she was looked down upon because she was half-blood. So she invented the "Ice Queen" persona so that she could focus on her schooling.

Daphne was so preoccupied with her thoughts that it took her a few moments to realize that Connor had returned and that he had a letter clamped in his beak. Biting her bottom lip, she arose from her bed and walked over to the desk where she pulled the letter from Connor's beak.

After taking a few minutes to get her breathing under control, Daphne sat down at her desk and unfurled the letter.

_Dear Daphne,_

_I hope you forgive me, but I must ask this right away. Is this a joke? Did Malfoy or one of his cronies put you up to this? I'm sorry but I must ask for during the last five years at Hogwarts, I've only received negative things from Slytherin house. No one has said anything nice to me in the last five years so if this isn't a joke and you are writing to me in the hopes to get to know me, then I formally apologize._

_But yes I have seen you in potion's class a few times, but in reality I'm too busy trying to do good so Snape won't fail me. Bit redundant really since he always fails me. I hope to change that this upcoming year though._

_I want to do my absolute best this year. Since the only thing I know as of this letter is your name, How about in our letters we ask each other questions so that we may get to know things about the other? What is your favorite class at school? Your least favorite? As you can most likely guess, my favorite is Defense Against The Dark Arts, and my least favorite is Potions, although History of Magic can definitely give Potions a run for its money._

_Harry_

Daphne felt the butterflies in her stomach as she re-read Harry's reply. Her heart was jumping for joy at the fact that he at least wanted to take the time to get to know her. Grinning like an idiot, Daphne retrieved a quill, roll of parchment, and a bottle of ink from her desk before beginning to write her reply. A half hour later found Daphne finished and re-reading her reply making sure everything was in order.

_Dear Harry,_

_I can guarantee that this is in fact not a joke, but I can see where you're coming from. I think your idea you mentioned about asking/answering questions in our letters in order to get to know each other is a very good one. I'd have to say my absolute favorite class would have to be either Transfiguration or Ancient Runes._

_Hands down my least favorite class would be Divination. I don't even know why I picked that class, bit of a last minute thing I suppose. Who do you suppose our new Defense Teacher will be? Hopefully it will be someone who can last more than one year. (I rather enjoyed the class when Professor Lupin taught it. Well me and a few other Slytherin's, namely Tracey Davis and Blaise Zabini)_

_How's it adjusting living with your godfather now? I'm sure you're extremely happy. I know I would be. What do you want to be after you finish at Hogwarts? I'm leaning towards either a Healer or perhaps a teacher._

_Looking forward to your next Letter_

_Daphne_

Pleased with her response, Daphne folded it up and handed it back to Connor who looked at her slightly irked.

"Oh come on Connor, I promise after delivering this one, you won't have to back out till tomorrow" Daphne said while stroking Connor's feathers.

Connor gave a slight hoot of annoyance before taking the letter into his beak and taking flight, his talons squeezing onto Daphne's shoulders a little too tightly before he took flight out the window.

With Connor now delivering her second letter to Harry, Daphne got up from her desk and stretched, her simple white t-shirt rising up a few inches revealing her slim, toned stomach. She wasn't really all that athletic but that didn't stop her from keeping in shape. Sighing to herself, Daphne headed downstairs to see what her sister Astoria wanted.

...

Harry Potter awoke to his room painted gold from the rising sun. Blinking the light from his eyes, he sat up and slipped his glasses on, bringing the bedroom into sharper focus. Reaching up, he ran his fingers through his hair, which only made it look untamed. Once his brain was a little bit more awake, Harry saw that the owl which had delivered his first letter from Daphne was back with another letter. A smile crossed his lips as he walked over and removed the letter from the owl. He decided to read it later and placed it on his desk before offering Hedwig's water dish to Daphne's owl.

While Connor drank some water, he was being watched by Hedwig who wasn't sure what to think of this new owl. After drinking his fill, Connor gave a hoot of thanks before flying out of Harry's bedroom window. Harry smiled as he watched Daphne's owl become a speck in the distance before turning his attention on refilling Hedwig's water dish and poking in some owl treats into her cage. Once that was done, he headed to the bathroom where he took a hot, comfortable shower.

Upon finishing his shower and walking back into his room, Harry saw one of the tawny colored owls, which were usually the school owls. Biting his bottom lip, he walked over and removed the owl of it's burden. After the owl flew away, Harry looked down at the thick parchment like envelope that was in his hands.

_'This can't be my O.W.L.S. results already, it's too soon. I'm also pretty positive that it's not my school list for the upcoming year, as it too is too early as well.'_ Harry thought to himself. Taking a breath, Harry slit open the envelope and pulled out the first piece of parchment which was written with the usual emerald green ink.

_Dear Mr. Potter, _

_Here are your O.W.L. results. When your book list arrives near the end of August, included with it will be a list of classes that you can choose to replace the electives you chose for your third year. If you don't want to change classes then there is no need to worry about it._

_Sincerely_

_Minerva McGonagall_

Slowly, Harry pulled out the second piece of parchment and scanned it's contents, his breathing easy now that he knew that he did pretty good.

Astronomy-Acceptable

Care of Magical Creatures-Exceeds Expectations

Charms-Exceeds Expectations

Defense Against The Dark Arts-Outstanding

Divination-Poor

Herbology-Exceeds Expectations

History of Magic-Dreadful

Potions-Exceeds Expectations

Transfiguration-Exceeds Expectations

A feeling of satisfaction and pride came over Harry as he re-read his scores. While he didn't really care about Divination or History of Magic, he felt that on the rest he did really well. Smiling to himself, he headed downstairs to show Sirius what he got.

...

Sirius himself was in the kitchen with Remus talking quietly about the previous night's events when Harry came in.

"Morning Pup, have a good sleep?" Sirius asked as he sipped some coffee from his mug.

Harry didn't answer at first as he went to the fridge and grabbed the carton of orange juice and pored himself a glass before replying. "It was great and no nightmares which is great" he said as he sat down beside Sirius.

"Any mail from Hermione or Ron?" Remus asked as he set down three plates of chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, hash browns, and toast.

"Not yet but I did get my O.W.L. results and a letter from Daphne Greengrass" Harry said as he spread some marmalade on his toast. As he did so, he missed the look of curiosity pass between his godfather and Remus.

"Daphne Greengrass eh, you know her father was one of the very few who tried to get me a trial" Sirius said looking at Harry.

"Oh I know that, she said that in her first letter, I wrote her back last night and just got a reply this morning, I'll send her another letter later" Harry explained.

"So what're your feelings for a girl you don't even know who happens to be in Slytherin writing to you?" Remus asked.

"Well first I get the feeling that she's not like the other Slytherin's. In her first letter she explained that she was Half-Blood and that she gets looked down upon by her housemates. Also she mentioned that there quite a number of Slytherin's who actually wanted to get to know me but couldn't because of Malfoy and his father. I think it'd be kind of nice to have a few friends in Slytherin house, maybe then it would end this stupid and silly house rivalry" Harry said.

"That's...very wise of you Harry, now let's see those O.W.L.S." Sirius said smiling at his godson.

Harry slid over the piece of parchment with his grades and while he began to eat, leaving Sirius and Remus to look over his results.

"This is very good Harry, very good, while your Divination and History of Magic ones were the only poor ones, that necessary isn't a bad thing as only those like Hermione could of passed History of Magic when the rest of the class is dozing off. Also Divination takes a rather swift hand to fully understand it" Remus said as he passed the piece of parchment back to Harry.

"Thanks Remus and I'm quite proud of myself" Harry said, his emerald eyes shining with happiness.

After breakfast, Harry helped Remus with the dishes before he returned to his room to get a head start on his homework. Opening his trunk, Harry grabbed his books for Transfiguration and History of Magic, wanting to get those two essays done first since they would most likely take the longest. Sitting at his desk, Harry moved Daphne's letter to the side. He would read it after he finished his two essays.

...

An hour and a half later, Harry leaned back in his chair, glad to be finally finished with his Transfiguration and History of Magic homework. He had asked Sirius or Remus for help when he needed it, but that wasn't to often. Placing his essays and books aside, he grabbed Daphne's letter and opened it, a smile crossing his lips as he read.

After placing Daphne's letter with her first one, Harry grabbed a fresh roll of parchment and began to write his reply.

_Dear Daphne,_

_It's nice to know that it isn't a joke, and I'm glad to hear that you and a few of your housemates actually enjoyed Defense when Lupin taught it. He's here visiting right now as a matter of fact. He was friends with Sirius and my dad back when they were in school. I know what you mean about Divination, I too kind of chose it as a last minute thing, but I think I'll be dropping it this upcoming year. It got to tedious when Professor Trelawney kept on predicting my "death" at every class._

_As for the new Defense teacher, I know who it's going to be. She's very good with defensive magic so I'm pretty sure it will be a good year, unlike this past year with Miss Toad-Bitch. As for what I want to do after school, well I'm leaning heavily towards an Auror but who knows. Maybe after all this ends with me and You-Know-Who, perhaps I'll be too tired to go around fighting and catching Dark Wizards. If the Auror thing doesn't pan out, I think I'd like to teach at Hogwarts._

_As for my usual questions to ask, I honestly can't think of anything off the top of my head. So how about in your next letter you tell me about your family?_

_Yours truly_

_Harry_

Pleased with his response, Harry stood up and stretched before calling Hedwig over to him. His snowy white owl flew over to the window where she outstretched her leg so that Harry could tie the letter to it.

Once the letter was securely tied around Hedwig's leg, Harry stroked her feathers as he said, "Take it to Daphne Greengrass Hedwig".

Hedwig affectionately nipped Harry's earlobe before taking flight out of the open window. Harry watched her before his attention was brought back to the present by someone knocking on the door.

Curious, Harry left his room and headed downstairs to see his godfather Sirius Black talking with what appeared to be what Harry could only guess as a muggle. The man was easily 6'2 and was wearing a black leather biker jacket. The biker ensemble continued with black jeans, heavy black boots, and a pair of black leather gloves embed with some iron studs.

As if sensing his presence, the man turned to Harry, his blue eyes flashing slightly as he said in an American accent, "Harry Potter, we need to have a very long discussion".

**A/N: End of Chapter 4. Please Read and Review! **


	5. Secrets and Training Plans

Animal I've Become

Chapter 5

Secrets and Training Plans

Harry didn't know what to think as himself, Sirius, and Remus were joined in the living room with the mysterious biker muggle. How the muggle found him and even knew his name perplexed Harry. Sirius had poured all of them a glass of pumpkin juice, which the muggle quickly drained as if he hadn't had anything to drink for days.

"Hmm kind of interesting, never quite had a taste for anything pumpkin" the biker muggle says setting his glass down and turning to face the others.

"Not to be rude or anything but who are you? And how exactly were you able to find Grimmauld Place?" Harry asked who was both curious and cautious.

"All in due time Harry, but first I need to know about the deal" the man said, his blue eyes not leaving Harry's emerald ones.

"Deal? What deal? Harry what haven't you told us?" Sirius asked.

Harry closed his eyes and took a breath before he explained how for the last few weeks leading up to the end of term, he had been having vivid and extremely detailed dreams about the prophecy and how it had appeared that Voldemort had captured Sirius and was using his torture to lure him to the ministry to get the prophecy. He continued with how after he and his friends found the prophecy, Lucius Malfoy and some other Death Eaters arrived, including Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry finished with explaining how they all ended up in the room with the archway and how he and Sirius had dueled Lucius and some other unnamed Death Eater, before Bellatrix shot some kind of spell at Sirius which hit him in the chest making him fall back into the archway.

"I was so scared and confused that I didn't know what to do. I kind of fell asleep during my History of Magic O.W.L. and had it again, when I woke up, the exam was over and I had gone outside, and I decided that I would go to Dumbledore if it happened again."

"Go on Harry" Remus said softly.

"After the exam had ended, Hermione, Ron, and Me went our separate ways. Hermione went to the library and Ron I think went back to the dorms. I meanwhile went outside and sat under that big oak tree near the lake. I was thinking about the dream when suddenly this old man appeared".

Harry noticed that the biker cringed and had grabbed the arms of the chair he was sitting in when Harry mentioned the old man.

"What did he look like Harry?" the biker asked.

"He had graying hair and dark blue eyes. He was slim and wearing a jet black suit with a flame red tie. Also he was leaning on an intricate cane that was topped with a silver skull decoration. He had asked what was troubling me, and I told him about the dream, he said that he could save Sirius from dying, and that all I had to do was sign a contract".

"And what was this contract for?" Sirius asked, a sense of dread starting to come over him.

Harry chewed his bottom lip before saying lowly, "My soul".

"What about what happened to Professor Umbridge do you remember what you did to her?" the biker asked.

Before Harry could continue with his story, Sirius cut in, "What do you mean what he did to Umbridge? Are you saying that Harry did that to her?"

"If my suspicions are correct then yes, now let him explain" the muggle said.

"Right well it was a few days before term ended, and I was on my way back to the dorm after visiting Hedwig for a few hours, and when I passed Umbridge's office, Colin Creevey and his brother Dennis came out. I of course stopped so they could catch up and so we could return to the dorms together. Well as we were walking, they kept on rubbing and scratching at their hands and they were acting nervous. When I finally convinced them to show me their hands, I saw that etched on their hands were the words "I will not marry a pure-blood and taint the pure magical line".

"Then what happened Harry?" Remus asked.

"My head started to pound and my hands started to shake as a cold sweat developed on my forehead. I left the Creevey brothers and headed to the nearest bathroom to splash some cold water on my face. The water didn't help because I was still feeling hot. It wasn't bothering me just annoying. However it started to get even hotter and when I tried to get my robes off they tightened so I couldn't get them off. In my mind all I could see was what Umbridge had forced Colin and his brother to carve into their hands. Then a flickering light caught my eye and well um both of my hands no longer hand skin, they were just bare bones, but there was also golden flames flickering against the bones. I could feel the flames but it didn't hurt or was it super-hot either. I then closed my eyes and felt my entire body becomes swarmed in the golden flames, when I opened them, I saw me but it wasn't really me. My hair was all burned off and so was my face, all that was left was my skull which was surrounded by the golden flames. That's the last thing I remember" Harry finished looking between his godfather, Remus and the biker.

The biker sighed before closing his eyes for a few moments. When he opened them, he looked at Harry and said, "Alright well first Harry, my name is Johnny Blaze and I was a professional stunt driver before I had to make the deal. The same deal that you made, but it was to save my dad from his lung cancer".

"What did I do Johnny?" Harry asked. He was now scared, confused and nervous all at the same time.

"First off, you made the deal with Mephistopheles otherwise known as the devil. And what happened was you transformed into the Rider" Johnny said.

"The Rider?" Harry asked looking at Johnny, confusion still evident in his voice.

"The Ghost Rider is what's known as the devil's bounty hunter, who can be called upon when Mephistopheles has need of his or her abilities. Now when you attacked Umbridge you used the Rider's most powerful weapon, the penance stare. It forces the person to relive all the evil they had ever done before searing their soul, which leaves them comatose forever."

"I...I don't know what to say" Harry said.

"Harry I've come to train you, and help you focus your powers and abilities as a Rider, we'll be able to do it during the summer and then again during alternate weekends when you go back to school." Johnny explains.

"Mr. Blaze, I believe it would be a good idea for all of us to talk with Professor Dumbledore, he's the headmaster at Hogwarts" Sirius says.

Within the hour, Dumbledore had arrived at Grimmauld Place and was told of the situation. The news surprised him, however he thought of it as convenient as well he could now explain what he had planned on teaching Harry over the upcoming year.** (A/N: Changing it where Dumbledore was able to convince Slughorn to give him the real memory)**

"Harry have you ever heard of a Horcrux?" Dumbledore asked. When he had arrived, all five of them had gone down to the kitchen where Remus had put on some tea while Sirius grabbed a bottle of Fire whisky.

"No sir, afraid I haven't" Harry said taking a sip from his cup of tea.

"A Horcrux is an object in which a witch or wizard can hide part of their soul, in other words they can't die even should their body be destroyed. Now in order to do such a thing, they would have to split their soul which can only be done by committing the most atrocious act there is. Do you have any idea what that would be Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry racked his brain for what he could think of what could be the most atrocious act that exists. Eventually his thoughts settled on the murder of his mother and father. His emerald green eyes locked with Dumbledore's blue ones as he said "Murder".

"Yes Murder is the one act that can rip apart your soul, now it is my belief that Voldemort created not only one horcrux but seven, and I also believe that you yourself destroyed one of them."

"I destroyed one of them? When?" Harry asked confusion evident in his voice.

From the inside pockets of his robe, Dumbledore produced a black leather bound book that had a large hole in the middle. When Harry saw the book, his eyes widened, "Tom Riddle's diary?"

"Yes Harry when you brought this to me at the end of your second year, I knew that this was a different kind of magic, dangerous and dark".

Throughout the next hour and a half, Dumbledore explained Voldemort's past and what events lead them to the night of the murder of Harry's parents. He explained how that upon graduating, Voldemort went to work for Borgin and Burkes in Knockturn Alley. Dumbledore went onto explain how Voldemort held a fascination with the founders of Hogwarts and drove to find things that belonged to them.

"Sir you said that you believe Voldemort created seven Horcruxes do you have any idea what they could possibly be?" Harry asked.

"Well as you already know Harry, I believe the diary that you destroyed in second year was one of them and I have already destroyed a second one. From the same pocket that he pulled the diary, Dumbledore produced what looked like a common ring. "To answer your question Harry, this ring belonged to Voldemort's grandfather and it was very difficult in finding it, and even more difficult destroying it." Dumbledore says.

"So if one were to find and destroy the other horcruxes, then Voldemort will be mortal once more?" Harry asked.

"Yes Harry, One destroys the horcruxes, then one destroys Voldemort, and once school starts up again, I will be helping you to locate the rest of them" Dumbledore says.

"Will I still be able to help him during the school year Mr. Dumbledore? He has a lot to learn to master and focus his new abilities" Johnny says.

"Yes I will see to it that you'll have a small cottage in the village of Hogsmeade, that way you can stay close to Harry and help him when time permits" Dumbledore explained.

With everyone agreeing to the proposed plan of action, Dumbledore bid everyone good-bye and that he would be in contact with Johnny in a few days. Harry wanted to ask Johnny some questions about being a Rider, but he knew that there would be plenty of time for questions later. His brain felt like a wrung sponge as he learned not only Voldemort's secret, but also the fact that he had inadvertently become one of the devil's bounty hunters.

Was it perhaps chance however that Mephistopheles gave Harry the powers of the Ghost Rider as a way to help him in the upcoming battle that was soon approaching? Harry could only guess that when the time came, he would find out.

Upon re-entering his room, the first thing that Harry saw was that Hedwig was back and that a reply from Daphne was attached to her leg. He couldn't help as a grin forced its way onto his lips as he walked over and removed Daphne's reply from Hedwig's leg.

As Hedwig drank from her water dish and snacked on some owl treat, Harry unfolded the letter and began to read. As he read the letter, he learned that like in her first letter, Daphne's father was on the Wizengamot and had fought to get Sirius a trial. Daphne explained that her father was strict but fair, believing everyone had the right to a trial before being chucked in Azkaban. Daphne's letter went onto explain that her mother had been in Hufflepuff and upon graduating had pursued a career in banking, and is currently working as a curse breaker for Gringrotts. Daphne then went on to talk a little bit about her sister Astoria and exclaiming that she was a pain in her neck, but she loved her all the same.

After reading the letter, Harry decided to go to bed early and after placing the letter with the others, He stripped down and got into bed. The last thought to cross his mind before sleep took him, was that of wondering on what kind of training that Johnny had in store for him throughout the next couple of months.

**A/N: End of Chapter 5 Please Read and Review!**


	6. Training

Animal I've Become

Chapter 6

Training

**A/N: From now on whenever Harry or Johnny is transformed and they speak, it will be Bold and Italic.**

Throughout his five years at Hogwarts, Harry believed he'd seen it all when it came to teachers and their methods. He was sorely mistaken when it came to what Johnny had in mind for his training. Almost immediately the following morning after breakfast, Johnny led Harry to a large spacious room on the first floor, opposite the drawing room. Peeling emerald wallpaper adorned with black snakes adorned the walls and it was evident that Sirius hadn't gotten to that room yet in order to remodel it.

"Alright Harry, this is where we will do our training. Now I know you've got summer work to do, so I've decided to set up a schedule. We will train here three days a week starting today."

Seeing the look on Harry's face, Johnny added "Alternating each day of course so since we're starting today, we won't train again till the day after tomorrow".

"Oh okay sounds reasonable" Harry said.

"Alright we'll begin with something basic, Change into the Rider" Johnny instructed.

"Um how? Is there like a phrase I have to say or something like that?" Harry asked, feeling slightly perplexed.

"Not exactly, at night, when you're in the presence of evil, the Rider takes over; however I want you to focus on what you were feeling before you first turned. Focus on the anger and all the pent up aggression at what Umbridge did to not only you and the Creevey brothers, but the entire school as a whole" Johnny instructed.

Harry nodded and closed his eyes before he began letting himself become filled with the anger and other emotions that he had directed to, or linked with what Umbridge had done throughout the school year. In his mind, Harry watched as his memories of the ending school year flew by and it seemed only one seemed to really stick in his mind.

_~*Flashback*~_

_It was the first Defense Against The Dark Arts class of the year and everybody was talking quietly waiting for Umbridge to appear. Harry was sitting between Hermione and Ron making small talk when they heard that sickening sweet cough from the start-of-term-feast. Umbridge had arrived at last._

_"Good morning class" Umbridge said smiling sweetly at everyone._

_When nobody said anything, Umbridge clicked her tongue disapprovingly before saying "Oh this isn't good. When a teacher says good morning class, it is custom for the students to say Good morning back, now let's try that again shall we? Good morning class"._

_"Good morning Professor Umbridge" rang through the classroom._

_"That's better" Umbridge said before she began to lay down how things were going to go in her classroom and how she was going to prepare them for their O.W.L.S._

_When it became apparent that they wouldn't be actually practicing any spells, that's when the shit hit the proverbial fan so to speak. Many of the students began to ask questions as to why they couldn't use magic, and practice the spells that would for sure be on their exams. It was only when Harry mentioned the need to use magic in order to properly defend themselves from Voldemort did Umbridge begin to lose her cool._

_"He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named is dead and won't be attacking children like yourselves while you're in my class" Umbridge said cooly._

_"He's not dead, he's alive, and I fought him at the end of last year!" Harry said, anger rising into his voice._

_The whole class watched with baited breath as Harry and Umbridge had their vocal sparring match._

_"So according to you and your beloved Minister, Cedric Diggory died of his own accord did he?" Harry's voice filled with anger as he felt his blood begin to boil in his veins._

_"Cedric Diggory's death is being investigated by the highest authority at the Ministry of Magic, now please Potter sit down and begin reading Basics for Beginners" Umbridge said, that sickly sweet note back in her voice._

_Harry simply arched an eyebrow as he asked, "Investigated, Really all it would take to find out the truth about what happened, was to ask for my memory, something that your precious Minister failed to even ask for when I woke up in the hospital wing"._

_Umbridge's eyes threatened to pop out of her skull as the students began whispering amongst themselves, like them Harry was curious as well as to why Fudge had refused to ask to see Harry's memory which would have cleared things up at once._

_"Cornelius didn't ask to see your memory because he, like me believes that you'd tampered with it" Umbridge said simply._

_"Why the fuck would I tamper with my memory when what happened, really did happened?" Harry said, glaring at Umbridge._

_"Well to cover up the fact that you had in fact murdered Cedric Diggory of course" Umbridge says._

_~*End Flashback*~_

When Harry opened his eyes, he wasn't surprised to see a ball of gold flickering flames dancing in the palm of his hand. Turning to Johnny, Harry saw that it was hard not to miss the grin on Johnny's face.

Harry couldn't help but smile as well, the ball of gold flames traveling down his arm and across his body. Within no time, Harry had transformed into the rider, golden flames dancing in his hollow eye sockets.

"Excellent Harry, now earlier Professor Dumbledore came and dropped something off for you. He seemed to agree with Sirius's proposition on training with muggle weapons like a knife, or a sword. However the sword he dropped off isn't just any sword, in fact it doesn't even belong to a muggle" Johnny said while placing the case that Dumbledore had left onto the small end table.

Undoing the latch on the case, Johnny lifted the lid to reveal a silver long sword with egg sized rubies placed in the hilt. It was the sword of Godric Gryffindor, the same sword that Harry himself had used to kill the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets in his second year.

Striding forward, Harry picked up the sword from the case, which disentergrated having been touched by the gold flames. Gryffindor's sword however did not melt or even show signs that the gold flames were making any sort of impact on it at all. Instead the flames coated the blade, covering it in gold fire.

Once Harry had gotten a feel for the sword, Johnny grinned at Harry before he himself changed into the Rider. Every detail was exactly the same with Johnny except his flames were not golden.

_**"Great Job Potter, Now let's see how your sword fairs against my weapon of choice" **_Johnny said, producing his trademark biker chain from around his biker jacket. As soon as Johnny's fingers had touched the chain, much like the sword in Harry's hands, the chain became enveloped in hellfire.

_**"What about this room? Won't we like set it on fire with our duel?" **_Harry asked, the now infused sword of Gryffindor clutched tightly in his hand.

_**"No need to worry about that, Sirius, Remus, and Dumbledore placed specific spells and enchantments on the room so nothing will happen, the magic bubble if you wish to think of this room as being, will absorb the impacts and dissipate it slowly" **_Johnny explained.

Harry nodded before bringing the sword up in a wide arc aiming at Johnny's head. Johnny simply side-stepped at the last moment, which sent Harry stumbling forward with the momentum of his swing.

Days and hours seemed to pass but to Harry it neither matter nor bother him. Sword and chain met, their owners desperately trying to outmaneuver the other. At one point, Johnny had almost been victorious. He had swung the chain around and wrapped it around the sword and was just about to pull the golden flame infused sword out of Harry's hand when the young man threw himself at Johnny knocking him down onto the floor.

_**"Good Harry, Good I think we're done for the day" **_Johnny said before he and Harry changed back to themselves and went their separate ways.

...

Daphne Greengrass was beyond bored out of her mind. She had already finished her holiday work, much to the not so surprise of her sister Astoria and her parents, Logan and Emma. It had been a few days since Daphne had received a letter from Harry and she was slightly worried. She knew she shouldn't be worried, for in his very first letter to her, Harry mentioned about wanting to take his studies seriously this upcoming year so he was most likely working on his summer work.

Sighing to herself, Daphne got out of bed and went to take a cool shower. Upon finishing, Daphne entered her room wearing velvet emerald and silver bathrobe. Her drying hair wrapped up in a towel. She was just finishing painting her fingernails when Astoria came running into her room.

"You have a letter" Astoria said, thrusting forward Daphne's letter into her chest.

Glancing down, Daphne saw that it was her O.W.L. results. Instantly she felt her chest tighten and a wave of coldness wash over her. Hands shaking, Daphne slowly slit open her letter and pulled out the first piece of parchment. Like Harry's this first piece said that when her letter came with her school list near the end of August, it would hold a list of classes that she could choose to replace with her current electives.

Chewing her bottom lip, Daphne pulled out the piece of parchment that held her O.W.L.S. and looked down at it.

Astronomy-Exceeds Expectations

Herbology-Outstanding

Potions-Outstanding

Transfiguration-Outstanding

Defense Against The Dark Arts-Exceeds Expectations

History of Magic-Exceeds Expectations

Divination-Acceptable

Arithmancy-Outstanding

Charms-Outstanding

Daphne slowly released the breath she was unaware that she was holding. She had done it. A small smile crossed her lips as she went to show her parents.

...

Logan Greengrass was in his study, vigorously working on the latest case to come before the Wizengamot. He rubbed his eyes before taking a sip from the goblet of red wine that rested on his desk. He was shaken from his thoughts on the case when there was a soft knock on the door to his study.

"Enter" Logan said looking up when the door opened and Daphne walked inside wearing the bathrobe he had gotten her a few birthdays before.

"Hi Daddy, I got my O.W.L. results and I thought you'd want to see them" Daphne said walking over to the polished mahogany desk.

"Hmm let's see em" Logan said, his hazel eyes shining with amusement.

Daphne passed the letter to her father who read through the list, his eyes lighting up as he went through them.

"This is excellent Daphne, I'm extremely proud of you and of the work you've done these past five years at school."

"I'm glad that you're proud of me Daddy and I have a small request to ask of you" Daphne said.

Almost at once, Logan arched an eyebrow and asked "And what is this request exactly? If it's to ask if Tracey can come over, not until the weekend".

Daphne fought the urge to roll her eyes, before saying "I know Daddy and no that's not my request, and if it helps, think of this as a reward for doing so good on my O.W.L.S."

"That would depend on what exactly you want" Logan says, his lips crinkling into a smile.

Daphne took a breath before saying softly "I want to go visit Harry Potter".

**A/N: End of Chapter 6! Please Read and Review!**


	7. First Meeting

Animal I've Become

Chapter 7

First Meeting

It took all of Daphne Greengrass's willpower not to jump for joy when her father had agreed to let her go visit Harry Potter. It was common knowledge at the Greengrass home that Daphne had a crush on the boy-who-lived. Logan remembered the day when Daphne announced it to the family.

_~*Flashback*~_

_It was their first dinner together as a family following the end of Daphne's third year and Astoria's first year at Hogwarts. Logan and his wife had just picked up Daphne and Astoria from King's Cross only a few hours ago. On the way home, Astoria was chatting excitedly about her first year and all the friends she made. Daphne however was quiet which was unusual for her as she would usually also talk about her school year. It wasn't until dinner that Logan found out what had been troubling his eldest daughter._

"_Mum, Dad there's something I need to tell you both" Daphne says pushing her food around with her fork._

"_Alright what is it? Did you fail a few of your exams?" Logan asked looking at his daughter._

_Daphne bit her bottom lip before saying "I have a crush on a certain boy at school"._

_Logan glanced at his wife and both of them were praying that this boy wasn't Lucius's son Draco. That would be a disaster. _

"_And who is this boy that you like Daphne?" Logan said._

"_Harry Potter" Daphne said unknowing of the proverbial bomb that she just dropped on her family._

_~* End Flashback*~_

After discussing it with his daughter, Logan took Daphne's silver bracelet and turned it into a portkey, promising to remove the spell when she came home. He had set the portkey to transport her right outside Grimmauld Place, and while they were waiting for it to activate, Logan set down some ground rules for her visit.

"I trust that you'll be on your best behavior during this visit, and there will be no bodily contact between the two of you. I do want grandkids but not until your forty…five."

At his comment, Daphne couldn't help but roll her eyes as she said "Daddy, I highly doubt anything is going to happen between Harry and I, this is the first time we'd be meeting face to face".

Logan simply nodded before he gave Daphne a quick peck on her forehead.

When the portkey activated, a soft blue light glowed around Daphne as she felt the familiar tug around her navel as the portkey transported her right outside Number 12 Grimmauld Place. As soon as she found herself standing on the doorstep to Grimmauld Place, Daphne started to become anxious and nervous. After she rang the doorbell, Daphne started smoothing her clothes out as she waited for someone to answer the door.

After a few minutes, Daphne heard the lock being undone before the door swung open and standing in the doorway was the man she recognized as Sirius Black from the pictures in the Daily Prophet.

"Um hello Mr. Black, I'm Daphne Greengrass, is Harry around by chance?" Daphne asked.

A smile formed at the corners of Sirius's mouth, his grey eyes shining with mischief. "So you are the girl who's been writing to my godson eh?"

At Daphne's flushing cheeks, Sirius chuckled before saying "Come on in Miss Greengrass, Harry's up in his room working on homework, just go up the stairs and it's the second one on the left". Sirius said stepping aside so that Daphne could enter.

Daphne bid Sirius her thanks before heading upstairs and stopping in front of the second door on the right. If Daphne strained her ears, she could hear the scratching of a quill coming from inside. Taking a few seconds to gather her nerves, she reached up and knocked on the door.

"Come in", came a voice from inside.

Daphne gripped the doorknob and slowly turned it before opening the door and walking inside. Right in front of her was the boy of her desires and dreams. While there plenty of other boys at school, and in her own house of Slytherin. all of them pretty much just had their minds on only getting in her knickers. Shaking her head, Daphne looked around the room, a small smile coming to her lips as she saw the various pictures and other knickknacks that Harry had decorated his room with. On the large bookshelf sat his school books all in order along with his extra ink bottles and rolls of parchment. On top of the same bookshelf sat his cauldron for potions and his Firebolt broomstick.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" a voice said, shaking Daphne from her thoughts.

Turning to the oak mahogany desk, Daphne's liquid sapphire eyes, met Harry's emerald ones. Almost at once, Daphne's cheeks started to flush and she mumbled an apology.

"So who are you?" Harry asked, his eyes never leaving Daphne's.

"I'm Daphne Greengrass, Harry" Daphne said softly.

Whatever answer Harry was expecting, it wasn't this one. Here standing in his bedroom was the Slytherin girl who he'd been writing to and she him. Daphne certainly wasn't what Harry expected. He'd half been expecting Daphne to look a cross between Pansy Parkinson, and Millicent Bulstrode. Instead Daphne had chestnut brown hair that was usually up in a ponytail. Today however she had let it down where it had rested around mid-back. Her liquid sapphire eyes were something that Harry found quite attractive about her. Her skin was pale but not deathly pale and she had that look of determination.

"So what are you doing here exactly Daphne?" Harry asked turning to his charms book to mark his place.

"I wanted to come for a visit. I figured that it would be kind of pointless for both of us to wait till the beginning of term before we even met face to face" Daphne said as she walked over and sat down on the edge of Harry's bed.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense, did your father have a problem with you coming to see me?" Harry asked, turning in his desk chair so that he was facing her.

"A little bit yeah, he was worried about us, um getting all touchy-feely with each other, to which I reminded him that this would be the first time for us meeting face to face, So I doubt anything like that would happen between us" Daphne explained.

"Yeah I kind of don't see that happening either" Harry said, although his cheeks did flush a little bit.

As the time passed, Daphne and Harry talked about what hey hadn't mentioned yet in their letters while Harry continued on his holiday work. He was grateful that Daphne had come over, as he ended up needing her help on his potions essay.

"So Harry you mentioned in your one letter that you know who the new Defense teacher is going to be. So who is it?" Daphne asked when Harry finally finished his essay.

"Her name is Nymphadora Tonks, she's an auror, but she's also a metamorphmagus" Harry explained looking at Daphne".

"Whoa that's so cool, what's she like?" Daphne asked.

"She's pretty cool, she's got a hell of a sense of humor as well" Harry explained.

At that moment, Sirius called from downstairs, "Harry, Daphne Lunch is ready".

Harry chewed on his bottom lip as he glanced at Daphne. "Do you by chance have enough time to stay for lunch?"

"Of course, Daddy's time limit on the portkey that he created by using my bracelet is 2 and a half hours and we just spent an hour of that talking" Daphne says.

Harry nodded before leading Daphne out of his room and downstairs through the living room and down to the kitchen where Lupin was putting the finishing touches on lunch.

"Hello Harry is your summer work going well?" Lupin asked as he placed on the scrubbed kitchen table a plate piled up with grilled cheese and ham sandwiches."

"I'm getting there Remus, I was working on my potion's essay when Daphne came over" Harry explained as he went to the refrigerator to get himself and Daphne something to drink.

"Miss Greengrass? Ah I see, Yes you were actually the one Slytherin student I had that enjoyed my class when I was teaching at Hogwarts" Remus said, giving Daphne a small smile.

"Well to prove a point Mr. Lupin, When you taught Defense that was the first time we were actually learning anything. The previous year when we had that idiotic git Lockhart, all he did was talk about his supposed travels and all the dark creatures that he had defeated. Now first year was slightly better then second year because Quirrell knew a lot about the Dark Arts, it was his stutter made it hard to learn anything" Daphne says.

"You do know that Quirrell was involved with Voldemort?" Harry said taking a bite of his first sandwich.

Daphne shook her head at Harry's statement as she said, "No I didn't, of course I heard rumors about what happened at the end of our first year, but that's all. Would you mind telling me what really happened Harry? You're not obligated to tell me if you don't want to, I'm just curious".

"To put it simply, Quirrell somehow bonded with Voldemort and had his face on the back of his head and Voldemort wanted Quirrell to steal the sorcerer's stone so that he could get a new body. When Voldemort ordered Quirrell to kill me, and Quirrell tried to touch me, his skin started to blister and disintegrate. Since he was bonded with Voldemort, he couldn't touch me because of the sacrifice of my mother" Harry explained.

Daphne was speechless after Harry explained what really happened with Quirrell in their first year. To say she was shocked was an understatement. Harry had just met the one person responsible for the death of his parents, and yet he got away unscathed once again.

After lunch, it was nearly time for Daphne to return home, so grudgingly along with Harry headed upstairs and across the street to the small park for Daphne's Portkey activation. As they waited, a silence befell them and the seconds seemed to tick away.

Knowing that she most likely wouldn't get another chance, Daphne reached forward, grabbed a fistful of Harry's shirt and pulled him against her, her lips crashing against his own. As their lips met for the first time, Daphne felt Harry's body stiffen as her lips furiously moved against his.

Harry's mind was yelling at him to break the kiss, to push Daphne away and yell at her. His mind was screaming that they just barley knew each other and that it was moving way to fast. However, Harry's body seemed to be overriding his brain because instead of breaking the kiss and ripping Daphne a new one, he started to return the kiss.

Slowly, Harry brought his hands up, placing them on Daphne's hips as his lips slowly parted, inviting Daphne's tongue inside, which Daphne happily obliged and slid her tongue into Harry's mouth, both to explore Harry's mouth and to begin the fight for dominance between herself and Harry.

Finally, when the need for oxygen became to much, Harry and Daphne broke apart, Harry's cheeks flushing red as he lightly touched his bruising lips. Daphne smirked slightly as her bracelet began to glow with a faint blue light, signaling that the Portkey charm was about to activate and take her home.

"I'll see you around Harry, and if you need anymore help on your summer work, you can always owl me".

With a flash of blue, Daphne felt the familiar tug around her navel before she disappeared, heading back home.

Shaking his head at the abruptness of what had just happened, Harry turned around having every intention to head up to his room and finish his Charms essay when he stopped dead in his tracks.

Johnny was standing in front of him, a look of sadness etched on his face.

"Johnny, I'm sorry you saw that, she kind of just surprised me and I wasn't expecting it".

"You have nothing to be sorry for Harry, you're young and you've got thousands of hormones raging through your body. However I must warn you of starting any kind of relationship".

"Why?"

"Because while you are the Rider, you are going to acquire many different forms of enemies, both mortal and immortal, and they can and will use anyone against you if they see that you could help them accomplish their goals."

**A/N: End of Chapter 7! Please Read & Review! **


	8. Advanced Training & Birthday Surprises

Animal I've Become

Chapter 8

Advanced Training & Birthday Surprises

By the time June had come to a close, Harry was finished with all of his summer work. He was somewhat surprised that he was able to complete it, despite Johnny's rigorous training exercises. Once Johnny was positive that he could turn into the Rider at will, Johnny decided to teach him about his powers in detail. First Johnny not only taught Harry the proper way to use Gryffindor's sword, but how to properly bathe it in hellfire as well.

After spending the first week of July working on the penance stare, Johnny decided it was time to show Harry how he could transform his Firebolt broomstick into a hell-broom. Harry was sitting in his bedroom finishing up a letter to Ron and Hermione when Johnny entered his room.

"Harry, I think it's time we've moved onto the next stage of your power training" Johnny said, moving to sit on the edge of Harry's bed.

"Okay what do you have in mind Johnny?" Harry asked, turning to face his now mentor and friend.

"Shrink your broom and put it in your pocket and meet me outside in fifteen minutes, we're going to go for a little ride" Johnny said.

Harry watched Johnny leave and he couldn't help but become curious as to what Johnny was planning. After tying Ron's and Hermione's letters to Hedwig's outstretched leg, Harry stood from his desk and walked over to his bookshelf where his Firebolt lay atop it. Taping the broom with his wand, Harry muttered the shrinking charm and once his Firebolt was shrunk, he pocketed it, before heading downstairs to meet Johnny outside.

Once outside, Harry's eyes widened as he saw Johnny waiting for him, leaning against a slick, steely silver motorcycle.

"That is pretty nice Johnny, even though I may not have any knowledge whatsoever when it comes to them, I have to say that its pretty bad ass" Harry said, taking the helmet that Johnny handed him.

"Thanks Harry, it was my Dad's pride and joy, now do you have your Firebolt?" Johnny asked.

"Yep, its shrunk and in my pocket" Harry said patting his jacket pocket.

After an hour and a half ride, Johnny stopped the bike in front of a rundown, old factory that had been closed for years. Getting off the bike, Harry looked at Johnny and asked "Okay what are we doing here that we couldn't do at Grimmauld Place?"

"All in due time Harry, for now lets proceed inside" Johnny said as he got off his bike and began to wheel it into the factory.

Once they were inside the factory, Johnny turned to Harry and said "Now that we're in a good-size place, I can explain".

"Alright Harry, take out your Firebolt and take the shrinking charm off of it and then change into the Rider" Johnny instructed looking at Harry.

Harry was confused by what Johnny told him, but he did it nonetheless. After removing the shrinking charm from his Firebolt, he changed into the Rider and looked over at Johnny.

"Touch it Harry" Johnny says, leaning back against his motorcycle.

Reaching forward, Harry lightly touched the tail end of his Firebolt broomstick. As soon as he did so, the broomstick became surrounded in the same golden flames that surrounded Harry in his Rider form.

If Harry still had his eyes, they would have been widened in fear as he expected his beloved Firebolt to burn up and turn to ash. However, instead of burning up, his broomstick appeared unmarked by the flames

Turning to Johnny, Harry asked _**"Johnny, what's going on? Why isn't my broom all burned up?"**_

"Whatever a Rider rides, it changes with him, since you ride a broomstick it changes, I ride a motorcycle and it changes. That Harry is your Hell-broom and it can go twice as fast now and will appear whenever you change" Johnny explained.

…

Meanwhile back at Grimmauld Place, the house was bustling with people traveling all over the place getting things set for Harry's surprise birthday party. Remus and Mrs. Weasley were in the kitchen doing the last few minutes of cooking, while Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, Ginny, Sirius, and Mad-Eye busied themselves with the decorating. They had just finished decorating the sitting room in Gryffindor colors when the doorbell rang.

"Who on earth could that be? We're all here already" Hermione said looking around at the others.

"I invited an extra person for Harry" Sirius explained, trying desperately to hide the grin on his face.

Walking to the front door, Hermione gripped the knob and slowly opened the door, revealing Daphne standing on the doorstep, her chestnut brown hair done up in a ponytail she was wearing a light green sun dress adorned with silver flowers etched into the dress.

"Ah welcome back Daphne, I'm pleased you were able to come" Sirius said enveloping Daphne in a hug.

"I'm glad as well Sirius" Daphne said with a smile as she walked past him and into the living room.

As she did, ten pairs of Gryffindor eyes fell on her, and at that moment, Daphne felt herself freeze up in fear. What if Harry's friends couldn't accept her because she was in Slytherin? She knew that Hermione could like her, considering they both had Ancient Runes and were often paired up together in class.

"Everyone, this is Daphne Greengrass, a fellow student of yours from Hogwarts who's been writing letters to Harry during the summer, they've both struck up a friendship, and I advise you all not to let the fact that she's in Slytherin keep you from getting to know her as well. A person's house as a whole doesn't make who they truly are. You should all keep in mind that Peter was in Gryffindor but ended up working for Voldemort", Sirius said before heading downstairs to see if he could help Remus and Mrs. Weasley.

Knowing it would have to be her to break the ice, Hermione walked over and said, "Hey Daphne, how's your summer been so far?"

Glad that at least one person was talking to her, Daphne said; "Its been good so far, I did really well on my O.W.L.S. so my parents are glad about that".

"That's great Daphne, it really is" Hermione said smiling.

With Hermione breaking the ice; Fred, George, Ginny, and Mad-Eye began to talk and hold conversation with Daphne, none of them having the slightest problem with Daphne being in Slytherin.

Well everyone except Ron. Hermione saw that he hadn't even moved from where they had just finished hanging a large banner with Happy Birthday Harry written in ink that would change from scarlet and gold, to emerald green.

Pulling herself away from the others, Hermione walked over and pulled Ron into a secluded corner so they could talk.

"Look Ron, I know what you're thinking that Daphne is a dirty, sneaky Slytherin and that she could just be using Harry and that at the first chance she'll turn him over to Voldemort", Hermione began.

"Yeah I do Hermione, and tell me you can't believe the lies that snake is saying. Of course she's going to turn Harry over to Voldemort the first chance that she gets" Ron said.

"That's not true Ron, you barley even know her" said a voice from near the door.

Ron, Hermione, and the others turned to see Harry standing by the door with Johnny standing behind him.

"Harry that snake has either used the imperius curse or slipped you a love potion or something. There's no way that after the last five years of shit that we've had to put up with thanks to the Slytherins, that one of them is going to suddenly try and be your friend" Ron says.

Taking a deep breath, Harry walked up to his friend and said, "Ron I've been writing to Daphne throughout the entire summer. She's nothing like Malfoy and his goons. She's half-blood and she gets looked down upon in Slytherin house because she's half and half. For crying out loud Ron, her father was one of the few wizards on the Wizengamot who actually tried to get Sirius a trial."

Feeling betrayed, Ron walked over to the fireplace and grabbed a fistful of floo powder and threw it into the flames. As he did so, the flames rose higher and turned emerald green. Stepping into the flames, Ron glared at Harry and the others before shouting "The Burrow" and with a flash, he was gone.

"Well I suppose the cat's out of the bag, this was supposed to be a surprise birthday party for you Harry" Hermione said pouting slightly.

"It's okay Hermione, I appreciate the gesture" Harry said before giving her a hug.

Throughout the rest of the night, Harry enjoyed himself, and even thought there was a part of him, that hoped that Ron would come around. Until then, he would focus not only on mastering his new abilities as a Ghost Rider, but his budding relationship with Daphne as well.

**A/N: End of Chapter 8 Please Read and Review!**


	9. Hogwarts Return & A Horcrux Destroyed

Animal I've Become

Chapter 9

Hogwarts Return & A Horcrux Destroyed

The end of the summer had arrived and it was finally time for Harry and his friends to return to Hogwarts and begin their sixth year. Whilst Harry had come to call Grimmauld Place a home with Sirius, he was still looking forward to returning to the castle. He of course had a number of reasons wanting to get back to school. Chief amongst these were getting to spend more time with Daphne and get to know her better, lessons from Dumbledore, and the all important, kick some sense into Ron's over arrogant arse.

Now usually in the past five years that he's been going to Hogwarts, on the early morning of September first, especially when he had been with the Wesley at the Burrow. Everything would be a hectic mess with late minute packing, eating breakfast, and trying as all hell to make it to King's Cross station on time. However this time, Harry was ready. The night before he had tracked down every thing that he needed for school. His spell books, school robes, potion ingredients, the marauders map, his invisibility cloak, and his firebolt broomstick.

When it came to Gryffindor's sword however, for a moment Harry was unsure what to do with it. However then the answer came to him. Grabbing his wand, Harry gave it a flick and muttered a shrinking charm on the sword. With the sword shrunk, he conjured a necklace chain and wrapped it around the hilt of the sword. Now with his "official sword of Gryffindor necklace" made Harry slipped it around his neck before double checking he had everything before shutting and locking his trunk.

When the morning of September first came, Harry woke up early and took a hot shower before getting dressed and heading downstairs for breakfast. Upon entering the kitchen, Harry saw Sirius was at the stove making scrambled eggs, and pancakes.

"Morning Pup, you're up a little early aren't you? I was going to wake you up at 9:30" Sirius said removing four of the pancakes he had made before adding some more batter.

"I just wanted to be up and have everything ready. Before when I'd stay with the Weasleys, everything would be so hectic today, so I wanted to be ready and not have to worry about tearing half the house apart just to find a spell book or something" Harry explained.

"I understand Pup, now how about you help me with breakfast?" Sirius asked flipping the pancakes that he had poured onto the griddle.

"I'll make the bacon" Harry replied, walking around Sirius to the refrigerator where the bacon was stored.

While Sirius finished up with the pancakes, Harry fried up six pieces of bacon perfectly. Once finished getting everything ready, Harry and Sirius dug in at the old scrubbed wooden table. When they were finished with breakfast, Harry headed upstairs to get both his trunk and Hedwig's cage and brought them downstairs to the living room.

With his belongings now ready, he glanced over at Sirius and asked "Sirius how are we getting to King's Cross? Floo Powder? The Knight Bus?"

It took all of Sirius's willpower to not grin like an idiot at his grandson. For last night he and Logan Greengrass had a discussion and both had agreed that Logan and his wife would bring over Daphne and her sister Astoria before heading to King's Cross together. However instead of spoiling the surprise, Sirius simply shrugged his shoulder and said "A friend will be coming over to take us, he should be here in fifteen minutes".

Harry arched an eyebrow slightly as he asked "What friend? Is it Remus or another member of the Order?"

Sirius smirked as he said "Relax Harry, you'll find out soon enough" Sirius said.

Within fifteen minutes, the doorbell rang, and Sirius went to answer it. Harry heard Sirius talking to someone, but couldn't quite place the voice of the person. Harry's unvoiced question was soon answered when Sirius walked back into the living room followed by another male. The male that was behind Sirius, was about 5'11" with shaggy chestnut brown hair and bold blue eyes. He had the look of importance and carried it proudly.

"Harry allow me to introduce to you, Logan Greengrass, high member of the Wizengamot and the one who actually tried to get my ass a trial" Sirius said.

Harry's emerald green eyes widened slightly as he looked at what appeared to be Daphne's father. His chest tightened slightly as Logan walked around him observing him. To Harry it felt like he was placed under a microscope, and the scientist just happened to be his maybe girlfriend's father. Once finished with his observement of Harry, Logan stuck out his hand and said "It's nice to finally meet you in person Mr. Potter, my daughter Daphne has of course told me all about you".

"Pleased to meet you Mr. Greengrass" Harry replied shaking Logan's hand.

While Sirius and Logan chatted for a few minutes, Harry busied himself with taking both his trunk and Hedwig's cage outside to where Logan had parked his car across the street from Grimmauld Place. As he reached the trunk, Emma, Logan's wife and mother to Daphne and Astoria, reached over to hit the button that would unlock the trunk for Harry. As Harry loaded his trunk and Hedwig's cage into the magically expanded compartment, he was reminded of the Weasleys Ford Anglia from second year. Upon securing his trunk and Hedwig's cage, Harry reached up and shut the trunk, as he did so, his eyes met with Daphne's who had a small grin on her lips. Harry tore his eyes away when he noticed Sirius and Logan exiting Grimmauld Place and making their way over to the car.

The ride to King's Cross station was uneventful to say the least. While he did enjoy Daphne's company and finally meeting her younger sister Astoria. He did however start to become annoyed with all of Astoria's questions that she kept asking. On the third round of asking questions, Daphne told Astoria off and to stop bugging Harry. Ten minutes later the group reached King's Cross station with twenty to spare. After parking the car, Sirius went into the station and got trolleys for Harry, Daphne, and Astoria. Once their trunks, and Hedwig's cage were securely placed in each their trolleys, Harry and the group headed inside the station. When they got to the magical barrier separating Platform 9 ¾ from the muggle portion, they decided to go in pairs. Logan went with Astoria, quickly followed by Emma and Sirius, this of course left Daphne and Harry bringing up the rear.

Like always at the beginning of term, the platform was packed with families saying good-bye to their children for another school year, not to see them until the holidays. After stowing away their belongings, Harry, Daphne, and Astoria got back onto the platform to say good-bye. After getting hugged by Emma, and his hand shook once again by Logan, Harry stepped away from them for a few private moments with Sirius.

"Have a good term Pup and don't worry with both Johnny's and Dumbledore's help you'll be that much closer to defeating Voldemort." Sirius said giving Harry a tight one armed hug.

"Thanks Sirius, you don't have any advice for this budding relationship with Daphne and my problem with Ron?" Harry asked.

"Well as for the Ron situation, I believe he'll get over this eventually, after all he doesn't really know Daphne. Now on your budding relationship with Daphne, all I can really say is to listen to your heart and to take your time. Sirius says.

"Thanks Sirius, I'll try and hopefully Ron will come to his senses" Harry said before together with Astoria and Daphne, boarded the train. All three of them waving good-bye as the train began pulling out of the station. Once the train had picked up some speed, Astoria bid good-bye to her sister and Harry before she left to find some of her friends. This of course left Harry and Daphne to find a compartment by themselves which eventually they found one near the end of the train. Inside they found Neville talking to Luna Lovegood, a fifth year Ravenclaw.

Before they could even enter the compartment, Daphne froze as she heard someone calling her name. Turning around, she saw her best friend and fellow Slytherin, Tracey Davis making her way toward her.

"Hey I missed you girl" Tracey said, giving a hug to Daphne.

"I missed you and how was your summer?" Daphne asked.

"It was alright, I see you finally got the nerve to talk to Mr. Potter eh?" Tracey said making both Harry and Daphne flush slightly.

"For your information Tracey, Harry and I wrote to each other over the summer and we're just taking it slow, getting to know each other" Daphne said a slight scowl on her lips.

Together Harry, Daphne, and Tracey walked into the compartment. Upon looking up, Neville said hello to Harry before glancing at both Daphne and Tracey, unsure what to say or ask. To put both Neville's and Luna's mind at ease, Harry quickly explained about what happened during the summer, and that he was glad that Daphne contacted him and that perhaps through their friendship, the house rivalries could possibly finally end. Hermione had shown up halfway through the trip and Harry couldn't help but see that Ron was not with her. As she sat down next to Luna, Hermione explained that after doing their prefects duties, Ron had slipped into a compartment with Dean and Seamus. Hearing this explanation sent Harry's stomach dropping a few degrees. He wished that Ron would get over this petty jealousy about him befriending a Slytherin. Harry just hoped that with time, Ron could see that not all Slytherin are like Draco and his goons.

Around mid-day when the lunch trolley appeared, Harry stood up and withdrew some coins from his money bag and purchased treats for everyone. Unsure of what Daphne and Tracey's tastes were when it came for the items on the cart, he got a bit of everything. Hauling in the goods, Harry placed the small pile of treats on the seat between him and Neville. When the group was halfway though the cauldron cakes, chocolate frogs, pumpkin pasties, liquorice wands, and Bertie Bott's every flavor beans, did the compartment door slide open and there on the threshold stood the group's least favorite people. Draco Malfoy, flanked by his cronies Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle.

When Draco saw that there was in fact two members of Slytherin house sitting in the same compartment as Saint Potter, No-Brains Longbottom, the Mudblood Granger, and Loony Lovegood, caused him to arch an eyebrow in confusion.

"Tracey, Daphne, why are you in a compartment with Potter, Longbottom, Granger, and Lovegood? Their filth might rub off on you, and that would be such a shame you know" Draco says sneering his trademark Malfoy sneer at Harry, Neville, Luna, and Hermione.

"Piss off Malfoy" Harry replied who not even bothered to look over at his rival.

"Manners Potter, Why must I continuously preach that to you? It's as if no matter how many times I tell you to mind them, the message refuses to implant itself inside that thick skull of yours."

"Don't you have somewhere to be Malfoy? Like in a compartment with your slag Parkinson?" Tracey asked glancing at Draco.

A shadow of disgust passed over Draco's face, before quickly being replaced by another of his trademark smirks.

"Why do you care Davis? Are you jealous or something?"

Both Tracey and Daphne made a face and pretended to gag, before Tracey replied. "Jealous of Parkinson? I think not, now if you don't have anything else to say, we'd appreciate it if you made your smug ass disappear".

Draco scowled at his fellow Slytherin housemate. However he knew it would not be in his best interest if he were to pick a fight with anyone before term had officially started. Especially with Saint Potter. Turning to Goyle and Crabbe, Draco gave a curt nod, before the three of them left and headed back to their own compartment.

As the Hogwarts express continued its journey north, Harry's mind began to wander as to what surprises and adventures he'd have this year. Little did he know, this year would be his most adventurous.

…

Meanwhile Albus Dumbledore sat in his office staring down at what would appear to any member of his staff, save for Snape to be an average gold ring band with a diamond cut black stone was set at the top. Sighing to himself, Dumbledore placed his fingers together as he began to contemplate on which path he should take in order to destroy the ring. A knock on his office door withdrew him from his thoughts.

"Please come in Severus."

The door opened, and Snape walked in, his black cloak billowing behind him as he closed the door behind him upon entering. He may of not agreed whole-heartedly with Dumbledore's policies, however he did believe that the old man did know of a way that they could finally rid the dark lord from this earth forever. Walking up to Dumbledore's desk, Snape arched an eyebrow as he looked down at the simple gold ring that lay across the desk. "Is that what I think it is?" Severus asked.

"It is indeed Severus, one of Lord Voldemort's many horcruxes".

"Are you certain Albus?, how can you be so sure?"

"I found it hidden in the Gaunt family's rundown shack. It was being hidden by extremely powerful dark magic. Only when I had offered up some blood as payment, did the dark magic shell surrounding the ring break, allowing me to grab it and return here tonight" Dumbledore explained.

"And you haven't destroyed it yet why exactly?"

Before replying to Severus, Dumbledore reached into one of the drawers and after rummaging around, pulled out a worn black leather book embedded with a large hole. After placing it on the desk next to the ring, he pulled out a twelve foot long Basilisk fang and laid next to the book.

"Is that a basilisk fang?" Severus asked.

"Yes Severus it is, and this I believe was also one of Voldemort's horcruxes as well."

"How did you destroy it and where did you find it?" Severus asked sitting down in one of the chairs that was in front of Dumbledore's desk.

"That is the amazing thing Severus, I didn't destroy it, nor did I find it until the end of second year. You see after rescuing Ginny Weasley from the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter gave this to me, it was Voldemort's diary back in his school days. Well once he brought it to me, I began to suspect that it wasn't just no ordinary diary. When I finally figured out that it had been a Horcrux and remembering how Harry told me how he destroyed it, I put one and one together and figured that the only way to destroy Voldemort's horcruxes was using basilisk venom" Dumbledore explained.

"So basically in theory, by stabbing the ring with the basilisk fang, will destroy the part of the ring that is holding part of the Dark Lord's soul, which in turn will return the ring back to normal?" Snape asked, wanting to make sure he understood it all.

"Exactly Severus, in theory".

With Severus's help, Dumbledore placed the ring in the middle of his desk, and instructed Snape to hold it in place. While Snape held the ring in place, Dumbledore picked up the basilisk fang and held it above the ring, preparing to strike it through the black stone perched on top. As if sensing what was about to come, the ring began to jerk violently in Snape's hands causing him to tighten his grip on it. Acting quickly, Dumbledore plunged the fang into the top of the black stone. As the fang pierced the stone, a scream of pain washed through office, quickly followed by thick, billowing black smoke. Once the smoke had cleared out of the office, both Dumbledore and Snape saw that the ring was smoking slightly, and that it was now a regular ring.

With the deed now done, Dumbledore bid Snape goodnight, before he himself went to finalize the plans for that night's welcoming feast. Meanwhile at Malfoy Manor, Lord Voldemort woke up in agonizing pain. It was if he was just placed under the Cruciatus Curse for a few moments. At first he was unsure what had caused him the pain, until realization crossed on his face.

_' Fuck it appears that Dumbledore has found out my secret and even found and destroyed one of my horcruxes. If Dumbledore decides to go Horcrux hunting with Potter, then I have no choice. I must gather what Horcruxes remain and take back in the pieces of my soul hidden within them' _Voldemort thought to himself.

**A/N: End of Chapter 9 Please Read and Review! **


	10. Gathering Horcruxes & A Date

Chapter 10

Gathering Horcruxes & A Date

Voldemort was scared, and he didn't scare easily. When he woke up in incredible pain, he knew in his heart that one of his horcruxes had been found and destroyed. He knew there was only one person alive who could have figured out his secret and that was Dumbledore. The only problem was figuring out which horcrux had been destroyed. When he first came back into both his body and powers, he learned of Lucius's transgression with his diary and punished him severely, even though he didn't know what the diary truly was, it was still a failure on Lucius's part.

After the morning meeting ended, Voldemort instructed his death eaters to go about their business and to only contact him if absolutely necessary. The nearest horcrux location was the sea cave. Upon exiting Malfoy Manor, Voldemort quickly apparated to his destination and walked inside, anxious to make sure this horcrux was safe.

Once he was finished taking down the defensive spells and charms, Voldemort made his way across the lake and to the island in the middle of it. When he was in front of the crystal basin, he flicked his wand and as he did so there was a noise that sounded like a clogged drain had just become unclogged, with it the bright green potion disappeared from the basin, and as it disappeared, a golden locket appeared. When he saw the locket, a small sigh of relief escaped Voldemort's lips as he picked it up. The locket was golden in color attached to a thick gold chain. Embossed on the cover of the locket was an intricate styled S with green emeralds running up the length of the letter. While holding it in his hands, Voldemort could feel the locket pulsating, as if it were alive and technically speaking, it was. Pocketing it into the folds of his robes, Voldemort gave his wand a flick and made a fake, copy of the locket appear which he placed into the basin before making the bright green potion fill back up to the brim.

Upon finishing, Voldemort put back in place the defensive spells and charms, before apparating to his Uncle Morfin Gaunt's house where he had hidden his uncle's ring after making it into a horcrux. Almost at once on his arrival, Voldemort could tell that the ring horcrux was no longer here. Knowing that there was nothing else he could do, he apparated back to Malfoy Manor. Almost immediately upon entering the house, Bellatrix rushed up to him , making her breasts push together, making her cleavage more pronounced.

"Is there anything I can help you with Master?" Bellatrix asked. Her voice low and sultry.

Voldemort fought to resist rolling his eyes at Bellatrix's determination. Instead however, he realized that there was actually something that she could do for him.

"Actually Bellatrix, there is something you can do for me".

Bellatrix grinned and moved onto her knees in front of Voldemort, prepared to start doing her job and pleasuring him. However before she could begin her work, she was pulled up to her feet by her hair. Most women would hate being pulled up by their hair. Bellatrix however loved it and it turned her on even more.

"My cock being serviced is not what I need help with right now Bellatrix".

Bellatrix pouted slightly but regained her composure as she prepared herself to do whatever it was that Voldemort wanted her to do.

"Do you remember that golden cup I gave to you when I first got my body back, and I instructed you to put it in your vault at Gringotts".

"Of course my lord, but what of it?".

"I need it back, and the quicker you get it and return here with it, the quicker I will allow you to pleasure me with your mouth".

Bellatrix's eyes grew slightly darker before she gave a slight bow and told Voldemort that she would make haste. The familiar apparating crack sounded as Bellatrix headed to Gringotts. Now that that was out of the way, Voldemort collapsed into one of the chintz arm-chairs in the living room. Worry and anxiety etched onto his face. Hearing a slight hissing sound, Voldemort looked over and saw that his pet snake and last horcrux Nagini had slithered over and placed her head in his lap.

"Ah Nagini, I'm afraid our secret has been found out and we must act quickly if we are to prevent any more of our horcruxes from being found."

An hour later passed and saw the return of Bellatrix, who was clutching the cup close to her bosom, anxiously wanting to get it back to her master. Upon returning to the manor, Bellatrix walked into the living room and knelt before Voldemort and offered up to him the golden cup. Now to the ordinary death eater and follower of him, this golden cup would appear at face value to be just a regular old cup. However, this cup was actually the cup of Helga Hufflepuff, one of the famed founders of Hogwarts.

"Thank you very much for your assistance Bellatrix."

"May I pleasure you with my mouth now master?"

"I'm not in the mood right now Bellatrix, However perhaps later you may do so".

Bellatrix pouted her disappointment, before standing up and heading up to her room. All that was left to do, was to figure out how to get the one horcrux hidden at Hogwarts. Once he figured that out, Voldemort would be set.

…

A month had passed since the beginning of term and Harry was really feeling it. Even though it had only been a month, the teachers at Hogwarts were loading so much homework on the sixth years, that many students had resulting to ordering skiving snack boxes in bulk from Weasley's Wizard's Wheezes in Diagon Alley. However no matter how much homework he got, Harry always made the effort to go to the library with Hermione. Even Neville was making an attempt to do better this year. However the end of the first month back did have it's negative effects as well. A great example of this was that Ron was still on his anti-Daphne binge and that it would only be a matter of time before she betrayed him.

Daphne who had been quiet throughout their stay in the library, paused in her writing of her essay on charms and turned to Harry and asked. "it's the first Hogsmeade visit this weekend, I was thinking about maybe going. Would you like to go together?"

"I think I'd enjoy that Daphne. Do you have any idea of where you'd like to go tomorrow yet or not?"

"I'm thinking the basics, you know Honeydukes, Zonko's, Scrivenshaft's and the Three Broomsticks".

"Okay that sounds good, I'm sure we can plan on what to do first when we get there. About what time do you want to leave?"

"Hmm How about we leave after breakfast?"

"That sounds perfect Daphne."

Neville who was listening in to Harry and Daphne making plans for their visit to Hogsmeade turned to Hermione who, as always, had her nose buried in a book. This time it was her Ancient Runes book as she worked on her translation homework. Neville had always had slight crush on Hermione, but he was to nervous to ever say anything to her.

"So uh Hermione are you um planning on going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?"

"Yeah probably but I might not stay long, Professor Vector gave us a rather long essay and I'd like to get a start on it."

"Oh well um I was wondering if perhaps you'd like to go together? You know with me?"

Hearing this, Hermione looked up at Neville and arched an eyebrow slightly.

With cheeks flushing, Neville went on to explain.

"I mean just as friends, and then we can come back up here to the library and you can work on your arithmancy essay and I can work on my herbology one."

"Hmm alright we can do that I guess."

The weekend came soon enough and upon waking up Harry and Neville got dressed before they headed downstairs together to the common room to meet Hermione. In order to pass the time until Hermione showed up, Harry decided to break the ice with Neville.

"So how long have you liked Hermione Neville?"

Neville's cheeks flushed and for a moment he avoided Harry's eyes.

"It started that night of the Yule ball during the Tri-Wizard tournament in our fourth year. I danced with Ginny most of the time that night. However when Hermione came back from outside, I could tell right away that she and Ron got into a fight about her going with Krum. I simply comforted her and we danced a little bit before the ball ended."

About ten minutes after Neville told Harry that, Hermione arrived and together the three of them headed down to the great hall to meet Daphne for breakfast. Like always, the great hall was filled with chattering students who was looking forward to a trip into Hogsmeade. Feeling eyes on the back of her head, Daphne glanced behind her at the Slytherin table to see Draco Malfoy glaring daggers at her. Shaking her head, Daphne slid into her seat across from Harry at the Gryffindor table. When Daphne first did this, the entire Gryffindor table looked at her like she was nuts. However when she was vouched for by Harry, the rest of the Gryffindor's didn't give her a second glance.

Glancing up from mixing some sugar in with his porridge, Harry saw that Draco was opening up a letter from his parents. Harry watched as Draco read the letter, he got even paler. Folding up the letter, Draco slipped it into his pocket before he stood up from the table and headed out of the hall.

Harry pushed thoughts of whatever Draco was doing out of his mind. He needed to concentrate on making his and Daphne's first date a good one. After everyone was finished with breakfast, Harry, Daphne, Neville, and Hermione headed outside where the carriages were waiting to take them and other students down to the village.

Meanwhile up on the seventh floor, Draco was pacing in front of a bare stretch of wall. On the third pass an intricate wrought iron door appeared. Walking forward, Draco opened the door and walked inside. Inside the room was packed and filled to the brim with everything and anything you could imagine. Old desks, spell books, cupboards, and chairs lined the walls of the large and spacious room.

Biting his bottom lip, Draco headed towards the area where the letter had specified exactly. In the north east corner of the room, Draco found an old desk which had old spell books piled on top of its surface. After removing some of the books, Draco saw a small, yet intricate wooden box. Upon opening the box, Draco saw a silver tiara with an oval cut sapphire set into the middle. Almost instantly, Draco could feel the power of dark magic surrounding the tiara. Closing the lid, Draco picked up the box and pocketed it before leaving. His next destination the owlery to send this box back to his manor.

This was definitely the best visit to Hogsmeade Harry had ever had. Once the carriage had reached the village, He and Daphne bid Neville and Hermione good-bye and that they'd see them at the three broomsticks in a bit. Together hand in hand, they went to Honeydukes first, where the owners had created a new kind of fudge and were giving away samples. The fudge itself was a chocolate peanut butter with bits of pretzels mixed in. After picking out some of their favorite sweets, they left Honeydukes and went to Zonko's. By the time Harry and Daphne left Zonko's, their money bags were lighter and their pockets were bulging with dung bombs, frog spawn, fanged frisbees, and screaming yo-yo's. Once finished at Zonko's, before they headed to the Three Broomsticks to meet up with Neville and Hermione, Daphne wanted to stop at Scrivenshaft's to get some new quills. Finished with their purchases, Harry and Daphne headed to the Three Broomsticks for lunch.

…

It didn't take long for Draco's owl to deliver the package to the manor. As soon as the owl had arrived, Narcissa had removed the package and handed it to Bellatrix, who in turn took it to Voldemort who was sitting in front of the fire in the parlor.

"Package for you master, from Draco at Hogwarts".

"Thank you Bellatrix, now leave us".

Bellatrix went to argue but she knew better then to question her master's orders. Once he was alone again, Voldemort opened the box and looked upon his final horcrux. Finally he had all his horcruxes back, minus the ring and diary. Even without those, he was still just as powerful. Now all that was left was to figure out how to put the bits of his soul back into his body.

…

"Thanks Harry this day was just perfect, I really enjoyed spending the day with you" Daphne says once they returned to the castle.

"Same here Daphne, it was fun" Harry replied.

Biting her bottom lip, Daphne leaned up and pressed her lips to Harry's. Feeling Daphne's lips brush against his, Harry's back stiffened just slightly, before he slowly returned the kiss. When she felt Harry starting to return the kiss, she reached up wrapping her arms around Harry's neck. Before the kiss could get to heavy, Daphne pulled away and gave Harry a small smile.

"I'll see you tomorrow Harry" Daphne whispered before she headed for the dungeons.

With a goofy grin on his face, Harry headed up the marble staircase towards Gryffindor tower, feeling like already this year was looking up from his previous ones. Even with his upcoming battle with Voldemort looming.

**A/N: End of Chapter 10. Please Read and Review! **


	11. Daphne Discovers The Secret

Animal I've Become

Chapter 11

Daphne Discovers The Secret

The Monday following their Hogsmeade visit and official first date, found Harry and his friends spending their lunch hour in the great hall eating and working on various amounts of homework. Harry however try as he might could not concentrate on his essay on the Confundus charm and it's counter-charm for defense against the dark arts. For some reason, he was getting a really bad feeling about today and he didn't know where it was coming from. Before he could ponder where all this uneasiness was coming from, his thoughts were disturbed when a younger housemate approached him and his friends.

"M..Mr. Potter?"

"Yes" Harry asked turning to face the young male.

"Professor Dumbledore told me to give this to you" the young boy said, extending a scroll of parchment to Harry.

"Thanks" Harry replied, taking the scroll of parchment, before turning back to his friends and unfurling the scroll.

"What's that Harry?" Neville asked.

"It's a note from Dumbledore, he wants to start our lessons tonight after dinner."

"Wonder what the first lesson is going to be?" Hermione says after glancing up from her Arithmancy book.

"Guess I'll find out tonight after dinner" Harry said, returning to his essay for Defense.

That night after dinner, Harry found himself walking along the third floor corridor to the end where the to stone gargoyles hid the entrance up to Dumbledore's office.

"Acid Pops" Harry said, watching as the gargoyles came alive and sprung aside, revealing the entrance and stone spiral staircase that led up to Dumbledore's office. Taking a breath, Harry made his way up the steps till he reached the solid oak door with the brass gryphon's head door knocker. Reaching up, Harry grasped the knocker and knocked a couple of times before he heard Dumbledore's wizened voice from behind say "enter".

Harry opened the door and walked inside. As he did so, Harry saw that Dumbledore's back was to him, and that the headmaster was busy placing his stone pensieve on the desk. Sitting beside it, was a small crystal vial.

"Uh Sir what are we going to be doing tonight?" Harry asked.

"Most of our lessons will be talking about Voldemort's past. I believe that the key that leads to Voldemort's downfall lies in his past. Tonight I will show you the memory of when I first met him when he was eleven years old".

"Okay then" Harry said preparing himself.

Once the pensieve was ready, Dumbledore reached over and grabbed the crystal vial and opened it, before tipping it over the pensieve. The silvery colored strain of memory turned the clear water black as it slowly started to clear up.

_~Inside Dumbledore's Memory~_

_It was a cold, rainy, and lifeless day as Albus walked the cobbled streets of London. A clash of thunder roared above in the sky but it didn't bother Albus in the slightest. Taking a left turn, he saw that near the end of the lane illuminated by the flashes of lightening stood his destination, Wool's Orphanage. The large wrought iron fence was rusted in some places and some of the bricks were loose. Before he walked directly inside the gates, he gave a flick of his wand, repairing the fence and fixing the bricks. Once that was taken care of, he walked up the flight of stone steps and rang the doorbell._

_Within a few minutes, the front door opened and a middle aged, skinny, harassed looking woman answered the door._

"_Yes what do you want? If you're selling something, we're not interested"._

"_I'm not selling anything Ma'am, I'm Albus Dumbledore, I sent a letter a week ago saying that I would be coming here to see Mr. Riddle"._

"_Oh I'm terribly sorry Mr. Dumbledore, I had forgotten. Very well follow me if you please."_

_Dumbledore followed the woman who had introduced herself as Mrs. Cole. Together the pair headed up the spiral staircase and up to the third floor where Mrs. Cole stopped in front of room 27._

"_This is Tom's room, if you need me for anything don't hesitate to ask" Mrs. Cole said before she returned to her office on the first floor._

_Dumbledore then turned and opened the door to reveal a pale, scrawny eleven year old who was staring absentmindedly out the window. When the boy turned around, Dumbledore could see that his dark eyes were slightly dull and lifeless._

"_Hello Tom, My name is Professor Dumbledore"._

"_You're a doctor aren't you? I've heard things that Mrs. Cole wants me checked out by a doctor because I can do things. I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals do things without any kind of training at all. I can make bad things happen to people who are mean to me, and I can also talk to snakes."_

_When Dumbledore did not respond, Tom went on to add "I'm not mad"._

"_First off Tom I don't think you're mad, I'm different like you and I'm a teacher at Hogwarts which is a school for magic where you'll be taught on how to control your power."_

"_Prove it"._

_Without saying anything, Tom's whole wardrobe went up in flames startling him as the flames licked at the wood of his wardrobe. Inside both Dumbledore could hear something rattling along inside it._

"_I do believe there's something in your wardrobe that is trying to get out Tom"._

_Biting his bottom lip, Tom waked over to his wardrobe and pulled out a small silver container. After opening it, he tipped over its contents to reveal a yo-yo, a deck of playing cards, and a few other knick-knacks._

"_I will only warn you once Tom, Thievery is not tolerated at Hogwarts. You understand?"_

"_Yes sir"._

After that the scene grew murky and Harry and Dumbledore exited the memory and the pensieve. Once he found himself back in his own body, Harry looked at Dumbledore and asked "Did you know then sir?"

"Did I know that I had just met the most dangerous and darkest wizard of all time…No."

After spending a couple more minutes discussing what Harry had just seen, Dumbledore bid Harry goodnight. Harry was prepared to go straight to bed so that he could get up early and finish his work that he hadn't gotten a chance to tonight with Dumbledore's lesson when the feeling he had received at lunch. Whatever this feeling was, it set him on edge and made him grip his wand in the pocket of his robes, readying for anything. As he rounded the corner, Harry saw something that chilled him to the bone and made him become significantly paler.

Marcus Flint, the Slytherin quidditch team captain whose grades had been so bad required him to stay an extra three years to better himself and his grades. However it wasn't his educational problems that troubled Harry. It was the fact that Flint was dragging a female student along the corridor. At closer inspection, Harry realized that it was in fact Daphne that Flint was dragging. Fear mixed with anger flooded through Harry and almost instantly he could feel his both his blood start to boil and his temperature rise.

Flint however was unaware that he was being watched by Harry. He was quite pleased at how easily his plan fell into place. He always wanted Daphne and now was his chance. His plan was quite simple really. All he did was sneak up behind Daphne in the library and stunned her before carrying her out, telling the stupid librarian that he'd take her to the hospital wing.

Getting to the classroom that he had prepared earlier, Flint opened the door and dragged Daphne inside where he dumped her a little to hard onto the bed he had transfigured the desk into. After retrieving her wand and placing it out of reach. Flint cast up some handcuffs and handcuffed Daphne's hands to the intricate wrought iron headboard. Once that was finished, he tapped his wand against Daphne's stomach which made her clothes disappear save for her emerald green bra and matching panties.

With the preparations now finished, Flint pointed his wand at Daphne's chest and muttered "Enervate."

Instantly, Daphne's eyes opened and she had to blink them a few times to clear her vision. Once it was cleared and she saw Flint standing over her with a look in his eye as if he just won the quidditch and house cup combined. Stepping into her Ice Queen persona, she arched an eyebrow at Flint and then again when she noticed that she was only wearing her bra and panties, along with being handcuffed.

"I don't think I even want to know what you're planning Flint, I'm also not into kinky shit."

Flint didn't reply to Daphne's statement. He always thought that actions spoke louder than words. When Daphne once again asked him what he was doing, he simply moved his hand between her legs and pressed against her core. The sudden movement caused Daphne to buck her hips and try to pull away from his hand.

"Flint what in the hell do you think you're doing? We're not together and I don't even like you."

"Shut up and stop squirming or this will be even more painful for you" Flint growled.

Daphne bit her bottom lip as Flint roughly tore off her panties and tossed them aside. When he went to spread her legs, she started to kick at him, to do anything she could think of to get him away from her. Now knowing fully well that this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought, Flint grabbed his wand and yelled "Crucio."

All at once a searing, white hot pain shot through Daphne's body making her arch her body off the bed. To Daphne it felt as if she was being stabbed repeatedly all over her body. After a few minutes, Flint finally lifted the curse. Slowly, Daphne allowed her body to sag into the mattress and her eyes to close. When she opened them, she saw that Flint had removed his clothes and had also moved so he was standing above her on the bed. His penis right in front of her mouth.

"Now if you do not want to experience the Cruciatus curse again my dear Daphne, you will obey everything I tell you to do. Now open your mouth and start sucking."

Clearly not wanting to feel the effects of the Cruciatus curse again, Daphne lifted her head up and slowly engulfed Flint's penis. As she started to pleasure him with her mouth, Flint started to moan and run his fingers through her hair.

Meanwhile in the nearby bathroom, Harry was beginning to change into the Rider. When he saw that it was in fact Daphne who Flint was dragging, instantly he could feel the Rider start to claw its way out. Harry knew full well that there was nothing he could do to stop it as his robes tightened around him and the golden flames appeared and just like last time, the golden flames started burning his skin and hair away leaving just his hands and skull swarmed in the golden flames.

Now in control, the Rider walked out of the bathroom and headed for the classroom where he saw Flint drag Daphne into. Back in the classroom, Flint had already climaxed and made sure that Daphne had swallowed every drop. Moving back between Daphne's legs, Flint pushed them open. Before he could get into position however, Daphne snapped them shut.

"Guess you didn't learn your lesson the first time eh Daphne? Crucio!"

This time, the curse was even more powerful and Daphne could feel bruises and cuts forming all over her body. The longer that Flint kept the curse on her, the deeper the cuts became. Finally after what seemed like forever, Flint removed the curse.

"Now be a good girl and spread your legs for me Daphne" Flint whispered.

When Daphne didn't reply nor respond, Flint roughly grabbed her legs and shoved them apart while he moved into position between her legs. However just before he could start, the door to the classroom crashed open and the Rider made his way inside.

Hearing the flickering of flames, Daphne slowly opened her eyes and as she did, her eyes widened in terror as she saw the Rider walk inside the room. She wanted to scream and cry but instead never got the chance as the Rider spoke.

"_**Marcus Flint, you are guilty and your soul is stained by the blood of the innocent of those who you've raped before. Your soul is mine."**_

Flint who had grabbed his wand, raised it prepared to fire off a spell when the Rider simply knocked it out of his hand before grabbing Flint by the neck and slamming him up against the nearest wall.

The Rider was easily able to hold Flint against the wall with one hand as he reached up with his other hand and removed the sword of Gryffindor necklace from around his neck. Instantly as soon as the sword touched the Rider's hand, it grew back to normal size and became emblazoned in the same golden flames that the Rider had.

Before Flint could even beg for his life, The Rider plunged the sword into his chest. The hellfire emblazoned on the blade burning Flint from the inside out and within minutes, Marcus Flint turned to ash. Hearing a whimpering sound mixed with sobbing, the Rider turned to the bed where Daphne was cowering in fear.

"Pl..Please don't hurt me" Daphne whimpered, tears running down her cheeks.

Raising the sword, the Rider swung it down, the hellfire infused blade cutting through the handcuffs and freeing Daphne from the wrought iron headboard. Automatically, Daphne curled into a ball on the bed, her eyes not leaving the empty eye sockets of the Rider, afraid that if she looked away that he would finish what Flint started.

"_**Daphne" **_, the Rider whispered as he reached down and lightly caressed her cheek. Even though his hand was still covered in the golden flames, they didn't hurt or burn her cheek. Instead it was a pleasant warmth like what she felt when she and Harry were hanging out.

With Flint taken care off, Daphne watched as the flames slowly started to recede and the skin and hair started to grow back. When it was finally finished, Daphne couldn't help but gasp as she saw that her savior was none other than Harry himself.

"Harry?! Oh my god what happened to you? And how were you able to do that to Flint?"

"Daphne I swear that I will explain everything after we get you up to Madame Promfrey so she can look you over."

"Promise?"

"I promise that I'll answer every question you have Daphne."

**A/N: End of Chapter 11 Please Read and Review!**


	12. Harry's Explanation & Voldemort's Plan

Animal I've Become

Chapter 12

Harry's Explanation & Voldemort's Plan

**A/N: This Chapter will contain a lime. If you do not like this sort of thing then don't read it, or just skip it.**

Madame Promfrey was just getting ready to close the hospital wing doors, when Harry and Daphne arrived pushing past her before she could do so. Getting over to one of the beds, Harry helped Daphne into the bed. Turning to Promfrey, Harry said, "Daphne will explain Madame Promfrey, I have to go see Professor Dumbledore".

Turning to Daphne herself, Harry leaned down and pressed his lips to her forehead while whispering that he'd return shortly. After this he left and headed back to Dumbledore's office. "Acid Pops" Harry panted at the stone gargoyle which at the mention of the password sprang aside for Harry to walk up the stone staircase. Without even bothering to knock, Harry pushed open the door and walked inside, startling the old headmaster.

"I'm sorry to run in on you, Professor but there's been a situation involving my "other" and Marcus Flint."

"Please explain" Dumbledore said walking down and sitting at his desk in front of Harry.

" I was on my way back to the dormitory when we finished our lesson tonight, and when I neared the great staircase, I saw Marcus Flint dragging a female student towards that unused classroom near Defense. When I looked closer, I saw that it was Daphne who Flint was dragging. The asshole was trying to rape her, and the Rider came over me and I stopped him before he could complete the deed, but the Rider ended up turning Flint to ash."

"And where is Miss. Greengrass now Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"I changed back to myself and took her to the hospital wing" Harry said.

"Alright head back there and talk to her, but be careful how you explain your situation" Dumbledore explained.

Harry nodded before he left the office and headed back to the hospital wing. Upon his arrival, he saw that Daphne was propped up in the same bed where he had placed her and she was reading a book that she had magicked to her with her wand. Madame Promfrey was no where to be seen which told Harry that she had gone to bed after fixing Daphne up.

"Hey are you feeling better Daphne?" Harry asked as he sat down in the chair beside her bed.

"Better then before, Madame Promfrey healed me up quick" Daphne said before marking her place in her book and placing it down on the bedside table.

"That..That's really good, I was worried when I saw how bad it was" Harry said.

"Harry are you here to tell me how the hell you're skull was on fire?" Daphne asked biting her bottom lip, as she was not a hundred percent positive that she wanted to know.

"Yes but it's a rather long story and I'm not sure even how to begin."

"Try me".

"Alright, well at the end of last year when I was taking my History of Magic O.W.L., I sort of fell asleep and had a dream or rather nightmare of Sirius falling through a stone arch-way in the Department of Mysteries. I woke up from the nightmare and finished my O.W.L. before leaving the great hall. When it was down to the last few days before summer break, I had gone down to the lake to enjoy the good weather when an old man appeared. He had graying hair, dark blue eyes, and was wearing a jet-black suit. He was also leaning on a cane topped with a silver skull. This old man asked me what was wrong and I explained my nightmare. He proceeded to tell me that he could help me for a price".

"What sort of price?" Daphne asked.

Harry fell silent after that, unsure on how he could explain that the price was his soul. How do you tell someone that you sold your soul to save the life of someone who for a long time thought was a murderer and that you yourself thought that he had betrayed your parents. Harry even found himself wondering if it had all been a figment of his imagination, however it was the arrival of Johnny Blaze into his life that changed those thoughts.

"Harry what was it?"

Clearing his throat, Harry fixed his eyes on Daphne's and whispered "my soul".

Daphne's eyes widened as this was not what she had expected. She actually expected it to be a some kind of advanced spell or something that Dumbledore had taught him.

Harry continued on with his story and told Daphne how during the summer Johnny Blaze had appeared and had broken the news to him that he had sold his soul to Mephistopheles and that by selling his soul, Harry had become The Ghost Rider, otherwise known as the devil's bounty hunter. Harry then went on to explain that Johnny was also a Ghost Rider, him having sold his soul to save his father from cancer.

"When I'm in the presence of evil, no matter how bad, The Rider takes over. I'm still me but just with something new added to my core. In fact I think Mephistopheles gave me this power so I'll have an advantage against Voldemort when that day comes".

"Wait, are you saying that it's going to come down to just the two of you? One on one?"

"Yes during the summer, Dumbledore stopped by and told me of this prophecy that was made concerning both me and Voldemort. Basically its going to have to be just him and me in the end. However Dumbledore is teaching me of a way to make sure that Voldemort will be the one that falls and not me".

Chewing her bottom lip, Daphne took a few minutes to process everything that Harry had just told her. Her rational side of her mind was figuring that this whole thing was crazy and that she should've never written to Harry in the first place and keep her crush all to herself. However the other side of her mind wanted to throw it all to the wind and help Harry no matter what. Whether it be her giving up her life, or knowing that he was the devil's bounty hunter.

Harry was a little worried when Daphne did not say anything at first. He was sure that she didn't want to see him again, especially when in his Rider form, he could do some serious damage to people, even if it was just the bad ones.

"Daphne are you alright with this?" Harry asked softly.

Daphne fixed her liquid sapphire eyes with Harry's emerald ones, and said "While I do find this surprising, I don't care if you're the devil's bounty hunter. What I do care about is you facing Voldemort all alone and much like Dumbledore is, I want to help you prepare for that day, whenever it comes".

A small smile crossed Harry's lips as he leaned down and brushed his lips against Daphne's forehead. "Thanks for not getting freaked out" he said.

Daphne returned the smile before saying "After Promfrey gives me a clean bill of health, I plan on returning the thanks for saving me from Flint".

"You don't need to thank me Daphne, and you'll never have to" Harry said.

"When is your next lesson with Dumbledore?" Daphne asked as she grabbed her wand and with which she tapped her bed making it grow from a twin size up to a full size.

"Don't know yet, Dumbledore said he'll get a message to me saying whenever it will be" Harry said as he slid his robe and t-shirt off and placed them in the chair before he slid into bed beside Daphne.

"Hmm" Daphne said as she laid her head on Harry's chest where within minutes fell asleep while listening to his heart beat. Harry himself soon fell asleep as he ran his fingers through Daphne's hair.

Two weeks had passed since Daphne was subjected to the torture curse and was almost raped by Flint. A few days after the incident and she was released with a clean bill of health. During the week, Harry and Daphne did their best to focus on their schooling and work because they still had high hopes to doing well this year with Harry wanting it more then Daphne since she always did good every year. She was Slytherin's own Hermione. However once their classes were over, Harry and Daphne would usually spend time down by the lake or in the library with each other.

At the present time, Harry and Daphne were sitting cuddling under the large oak tree next to the black lake. The sky was a crystal clear blue with just a few fluff of clouds drifting lazily across the sun every now and then. Both had just finished their two scroll essay for Tonks on defending oneself against the inferius.

Hiding a grin to herself, Daphne suddenly moved so that she was straddling Harry, pressing her body to his. Having obviously not expected it, Harry arched an eyebrow slightly as he looked up at the grinning Daphne. "Do I even want to know what you're planning?" Harry asked.

"Hmm no probably not" Daphne said as she started rocking her hips which caused Harry to hiss slightly.

Grinning down at Harry, Daphne continued to rock her hips causing Harry to moan and arch his back. Feeling Harry's erection pressing up against her through his jeans, Daphne slipped off Harry's lap and moved between his legs.

"Wh..What are you doing Daphne?" Harry gasped as he felt her fingers undoing his jeans and tugging them down along with his boxers.

"Returning my thanks for saving me from Flint" Daphne whispered as she leaned down and flicked her tongue against the tip of Harry's cock.

"Y..You don't have to do that Daphne" Harry gasped out looking down at her.

"I know I don't have to do this Harry, but I want to" Daphne said before she sucked the tip of Harry's cock into her mouth.

Knowing that there wasn't much he could do to change Daphne's mind, Harry just leaned back and closed his eyes as Daphne began bobbing her head up and down his member, slowly taking him deeper into her mouth. Reaching down, Harry slowly ran his fingers through Daphne's hair as she sucked him off.

Keeping a steady pace as she bobbed her head up and down Harry's member, Daphne reached up with her right hand and cupped Harry's balls, lightly squeezing and massaging them.

"Oh god don't stop Daphne" Harry moaned as he tightened his grip in Daphne's hair as she used her mouth to bring him closer to climaxing.

Fixing her liquid sapphire eyes with Harry's emerald ones, Daphne began to hum against Harry's member, her throat vibrating against it. Arching his back, Harry gasped as his climax ripped through his body, his member shooting his load down Daphne's throat.

Feeling Harry's member start to shoot its load down her throat, Daphne closed her eyes and started to swallow every drop. While the taste itself was salty, she still enjoyed it as it was from Harry and not some random guy. Once she was positive that Harry was finished, she pulled her mouth away and licked her lips.

"Fuck Daphne that was amazing" Harry gasped out when he had finally come down from cloud nine.

"It's no problem Harry and maybe later you can return the favor" Daphne said with a wink.

…

Meanwhile in Malfoy Manor, Voldemort was pacing in the large, luxurious library on the second floor. Clearly Dumbledore had found out his horcrux secret and it was only a matter of time before the old man told it to Potter. Knowing full-well that there was only one thing to do to save his horcruxes, Voldemort could only do one thing and withdraw the pieces of his soul back into him. This unfortunately was a double sided sword, as for the good side he would become more powerful. On the other hand the process would be extremely painful and there was a chance that it could even kill him. He had a choice and it wasn't an easy one.

Turning to the thick, heavy black leather bound book that sat on the table, Voldemort scanned the page that he opened it to. Unfortunately there were several problems that prevented him from reading it clearly. First and foremost the entire page was written in Latin. In order to translate it, he would need to find a translating spell. The second problem was that the page was filled with moth holes and discoloring. If he was to do this, he needed to translate this spell perfectly. Being extra careful, Voldemort pulled the fresh scroll of parchment to him and he pressed it onto the page of the book. Giving his wand a flick, Voldemort watched as the words on the page bled onto the piece of parchment. Within five minutes, the spell was finished, and now Voldemort had a fresh copy of the spell that he could use to return his soul pieces back to him.

**A/N: End of Chapter 12. I apologize for the long update, for some reason this chapter took a long time for me to write. If any of you have seen Ghost Rider 1 then you should know where I'm going with this :D Please Read and Review!**


	13. Retrieving A Memory & Return of A Friend

Animal I've Become

Chapter 13

Retrieving A Memory & Return of A Friend

**A/N: I apologize for the very long update. I've been experiencing some Writer's Block and had to take a break. It also doesn't help that I'm getting Carpal Tunnel in my hands. I promise to update as regularly as I can. As it stands right now at least in my mind, Animal I've Become has about 4-6 more chapters before it ends. This of course can change so just giving everyone a heads up. Also thank you so much for those who have actually taken time to read this story.**

Harry sat in his chair in front of Dumbledore's desk, confusion written on his face. The stone pensieve sitting between him and Dumbledore. They had just finished looking at a memory that Dumbledore had acquired from Horace Slughorn, the old potions master that Dumbledore had been able to convince to come back that school year.

"Sir what exactly was that?" Harry asked, in his mind he could still see the thick billowing smoke and Slughorn yelling at a sixteen year old Voldemort to never ask him again about horcruxes.

"That Harry is THE key to unlocking Voldemort's secret. However as you saw it's been tampered with by its owner.

"But why would Professor Slughorn tamper with his own memory?" Harry asked.

"Most likely because he feels ashamed of what he told Voldemort, If we are to figure this out, We need the real memory Harry. This is what I ask of you, to try and convince Horace to give you the real one".

That conversation was over a month previously and so far Harry had not had success in his quest to wrangle the real memory out of Slughorn. Whenever Harry had tried to approach Slughorn and strike up a conversation about the memory, the Professor would find himself too busy to talk to Harry.

Harry of course was not going to let this stop him and he would figure out a way to get the memory from Slughorn. After the third attempt, Harry headed up to the library where some of his friends were working on various degrees of homework.

"No such luck eh Harry?" Hermione asked looking up from her ancient runes essay.

"Nope, he seems to always be surrounded by students or some variation" Harry said sitting down across from Hermione and next to Daphne. He knew that it was important that he get the memory, but after three attempts of trying to even talk to Slughorn, he was ready to give up. However, he knew that he couldn't do that.

Closing his eyes, Harry leaned back in his chair, knowing that he had homework three essays to do for Defense Against The Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and Herbology that were due on Friday but with all the hassle of attempting to get close to Slughorn, he just wasn't in the mood to work on them at the moment.

Daphne, who was sitting beside Harry and working on her potions essay looked up when she heard someone clearing their throat. As she did, her sapphire eyes met with Ron's own blue ones. Seeing him, a slight gasp escaped her lips, as she nor Harry and Hermione had seen Ron ever since term had began.

"Can I uh sit here with you guys?" Ron asked biting his bottom lip as both Hermione and Harry snapped their heads up to look at their former friend.

When neither Harry, nor Hermione said anything when Ron made his presence known, He continued on.

"I uh, I know I haven't exactly been the best mate like I should've been when term started. I let my anger and resentment towards Daphne becoming friends with Harry, all because of my distrust of Slytherin house and all they've done to us over the past five years. However, I've kind of been watching these last few months, and I realized that I had been a complete and total git when Daphne had come over for Harry's birthday, and for that I'm sorry and I hope we can be friends again".

Standing up, Harry faced Ron and clasped his arm. "It took you long enough mate" Harry said before embracing Ron. Feeling Harry embrace him, after everything that had happened between them, made Ron feel loads better. Turning to Daphne, Ron gave a slight bow before extending his hand to her. "Friends?" he asked.

Daphne glanced at the outstretched hand, before taking it and shaking it. Now that it was all under the bridge, Ron sat down next to Hermione and looked across to Harry. "So what's been happening?"

"Well I'm trying to figure out how the hell I can get Slughorn to give me the real memory of him talking with Voldemort when he was sixteen" Harry said.

As confusion flashed in Ron's face, Harry quickly explained how Dumbledore was showing him memories about Voldemort's past and how the memory that he had acquired from Slughorn had been tampered with by Slughorn himself and that in order to get to the bottom of the mystery of what he told Voldemort, He and Dumbledore needed the real untampered memory.

"Harry why don't you use that Felix Felicis potion you won during the first Potion's class of term" Ron said.

Ron's statement made Harry's eyes widened. He had completely forgot about that small vial of luck potion that he had won.

_~Flashback~_

_It was the first day of term and Harry was leaning back in the corridor that led from the Transfiguration classroom to the courtyard where first years would be having their flying lessons. A small smirk was adorned on his lips as he watched the young students attempting to find their way to their respective classrooms. Hearing his name being called, He looked up to see McGonagall making her way over to him._

"_Potter why are you not in potions? Or do you no longer wish to become an Auror?"_

"_Oh, no Professor, I still want to be an Auror but I was told that in order to continue taking Potions this year, I'd have to get an Outstanding on my Potions O.W.L. but I got an Exceeds Expectations"._

"_Normally that would be true, however with Professor Snape taking time off and being replaced by Horace Slughorn, you are still eligible to continue taking Potions with Professor Slughorn because he happily excepts Exceeds Expectations into his N.E.W.T. Classes" McGonagall said._

"_Brilliant, I'll head there now" Harry said before departing for the Dungeons._

_He arrived just as Slughorn was telling the other students what kind of potions they could expect to be making this year. Hearing the door open, Slughorn turned to Harry and said "Ah welcome Mr. Potter, I thought you had forgotten about us"._

"_No sir, I just didn't know if I could still take the class because of what I got on my O.W.L., Professor McGonagall just informed me that I could" Harry explained._

"_Wonderful, wonderful; there are a few old copies of the textbook in the cabinet over there. One of them should suffice until you can owl Flourish and Blotts for a new copy," Slughorn instructed before turning back to the other members of the class._

"_Today we will be making the draught of living death, and as an extra incentive to do well, the person who is able to make the best draught of living death today, will win this". Reaching into the pocket of his robes, Slughorn produced a small vial filled with golden potion._

"_Any idea what this little potion is?" Slughorn asked._

_When no one replied or even ventured a guess as to what it was, Slughorn explained that it's called Felix Felicis which is often referred to as liquid luck. This is what I offer to the person who can make the best draught of living death. After announcing that, there was a scramble for the ingredient pantry to acquire the proper ingredients._

_Once he had his own ingredients, Harry sat next to Hermione and began to prepare his cauldron. As he did, he flipped open his battered potion's book to the correct page with the recipe. Being extra careful as to follow the recipe exactly as it was listed, he set to work. At the end of the remaining hour, Slughorn called for everyone to pack up. After everyone was packed up, Slughorn judged their work and awarded the potion to Harry who somehow had managed to do better than Hermione._

_~End Flashback~_

"Holy crap, I totally forgot about that, thanks for reminding me Ron. I'm going to go try it out and hopefully with a little "luck" it will work" Harry said before scrambling out of his seat and out of the library.

Getting to the Gryffindor common room, Harry bid hello to some fellow Gryffindors before heading up to the sixth year boy's dormitory so he could grab the small vial of luck potion that he had put in his trunk cushioned between a pair of socks. Retrieving the small vial, Harry sat down on his bed and uncorked it quickly. Interestingly enough, instead of smelling vulgar and disgusting, the little vial of luck potion smelled like honey. Placing the vial to his lips, Harry threw his head back and drunk about half of the potion before replacing the cork. Standing up, Harry swayed slightly before he got his bearings and left the dormitory, keen on finally finding Slughorn and getting the memory.

Harry didn't have to search for long, as he was walking down past the Herbology greenhouses he saw Slughorn who had his head poked in through one of the windows and was too busy collecting some venomous tentacula pods to even notice him. Tilting his head to the side, Harry walked up and lightly tapped Slughorn on the shoulder, which caused Slughorn to jump back in surprise.

"My word Harry, you almost gave me a heart attack, and what are you doing out of the castle at this time of day?" Slughorn said.

"Sorry Professor, but I just wanted to pay a visit to my friend Hagrid before the day was up. You're more than welcome to accompany me if you'd like."

Slughorn agreed and followed Harry down to Hagrid's hut. Upon arrival, they saw that Hagrid was busy digging a grave about three feet from his front door, a very large carcass of an acromantula laying a few feet away that Harry instantly recognized as Aragog.

Noticing he had an audience, Hagrid turned to both Harry and Slughorn, his voice somber as he said "Aragog died last night, he became ill during the summer, and I did my best to help him get better, but it was no use." Tears leaking down into his big bushy beard.

Slughorn was beside himself as he looked from the carcass of Aragog to Hagrid. "My dear Hagrid, is that an acromantula?" His voice full of surprise and wonder.

When Hagrid grunted in response, Slughorn produced a couple vials from inside his robes and sat to work acquiring some samples of the highly sought after venom. When he was done, Slughorn stood next to Hagrid and gave a eulogy.

"Farewell, Aragog, king of arachnids, whose long and faithful friendship to those who knew you won't be forgotten. Though your body will decay, your spirit lingers on in the quiet, web-spun places of your forest home. May your many-eyed descendants ever flourish and your human friends find solace for the loss that they have sustained".

After the eulogy was given, Hagrid finished digging the grave before burying his oldest friend. Once the funeral was over, Harry, Slughorn, and Hagrid returned to the hut where Slughorn and Hagrid indulged in several bottles of wine. In order to keep things going, Harry kept the wine coming with a refilling charm. Once Hagrid had passed out Harry used this opportunity to talk to Slughorn about the memory.

"Professor Slughorn sir, Professor Dumbledore brought you back here for a reason and that reason is that we need that memory, the real memory because it will bring us one step closer to defeating him. We need to know what you told him all those years ago".

"You had no idea what he was like, even back then" Slughorn said, his eyes somber as he looked at Harry.

"Be brave, Professor. Be brave like my mother because otherwise you disgrace her, and she died for nothing. Otherwise Francis's bowl will remain empty…forever."

"Just don't think bad of me when you see it." Slughorn says as he places the tip of his wand to his head. Pulling it back, Harry saw a long thin silvery-white memory clinging to it. Reaching into the pockets of his robes, Slughorn produced another empty potion vial and lightly tapped the tip of his wand against the opening, the memory detaching from his wand and falling inside. Reaching over, Slughorn pressed the vial into Harry's hand.

**A/N: End of Chapter 13. Again I apologize for the long update. I will be starting the next chapter shortly. Please Read and Please Review. Reviews make me happy. (No Flames please)**


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